


A New Life And An Old Past

by AlexaNDYE



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 03:34:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3675849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexaNDYE/pseuds/AlexaNDYE
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pepper Potts, a new student at her University, meets Tony Stark, a Student Teacher. After he offers to tutor her in Physics, things begin to spark between them, but not flawlessly, as some drama is mixed in between.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Life And An Old Past

**Author's Note:**

> Happy VERY LATE Birthday to Kylie (okayseesee). This fic was started for her Birthday (November LOL) and wasn't finished until now. Hope you enjoy reading it!

Pepper Potts walked nervously through the corridors of her new University with her schedule in her hands. Her light orange hair, tied up in a ponytail, swayed from side to side as she switched between looking up at the classroom numbers and down at her schedule. Her backpack was slung off one shoulder and her lips were pursed; it was essentially her first day of college, and even though her dormitory RA gave a tour of the campus the day before, she still couldn’t remember where her classes were.

The halls were full of people walking in and out of class, talking with each other and laughing. She was taller than most girls, but was considered average height on her High School softball team. She was known to be independent and a little more studious than she’d like to be. Some would call her innocent and touchy, but hidden underneath that small smile and freckled face was a woman determined to work for her goals.

“560B…” She mumbled as she passed the door. She looked down at her schedule. “Where is…” she briefly looked up. “... 570A?” She looked up at the other door and saw ‘565A’. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw 575B. She stopped in her tracks and looked down at the piece of paper again, and then looked back up at the number.

 _Maybe I passed it_ , she thought as she began to turn around. Next thing she knew, a man walked into her and the papers in his hands scattered.

“Oh my god!” She squeaked, dropping her schedule. “I am so sorry.” She and the man immediately bent down to pick up the papers. “I am really sorry.”

When she glanced up, she noticed the man was probably in his mid-thirties or forties. He was dressed quite nicely, wearing a dress shirt that was tucked into his pants, nice slacks, and nice leather shoes.

“That is quite alright…” He picked up her schedule. “…Miss Potts.” He finished, handing her the piece of paper.

“I am really, really sorry.” She apologized again. He could sense the nervousness in her voice, and assumed it was her first day.

“It’s okay. I’m Professor Fredrickson.” When they finally gathered all of the papers, they both stood up. “Welcome to Physics 187.” He smiled and walked past her. She watched him open the door to room ‘570A’ and almost groaned out loud.

“Way to make a first impression, Pepper…” She muttered to herself.

“Trying to kill the professor on the first day of class? That’s quite bold of you.” A man behind her said.

Pepper turned around and looked at the man; he seemed to be around her age, if not a couple years older. He had a messenger bag hanging off his hip with the strap crossing his chest. He was dressed in a black blazer, a grey t-shirt, and denim jeans.

He had the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes she’s ever seen, and the edges of his hair was combed to the sides with the middle combed slightly up. He had a nice comforting and relaxing smile, and really nice pink lips—

 _Lips? Really Potts? First day and you’re already thinking about a man’s lips…_ , she scolded herself.

He continued when she returned the smile. “Usually students plot professor assassinations _after_ the first exam. You know, after people realize they might fail the class.”

“I… I was just testing the waters, making sure he isn’t too fragile.” She laughed nervously.

He nodded. “Ah.”

She cleared her throat and brushed her bangs out of the way. “Are you--?”

“—in his class?” He smiled widely. “Yeah.”

“Oh, well, I’m Pepper.” She brought her hand out.

He shook it with a firm grip and furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Pepper?”

“Yeah,” She retracted her hand. “Old High School nickname that kind of stuck.”

The first thing he noticed was her smile, and then her freckles. Once he saw the freckles, he figured that was the origin of her nickname. One glance at her beautiful ocean blue eyes and he was lost. They were so deep and blue, he couldn’t think of proper words to say. He admired how light orange her hair was, and the way her ponytail was curled at the tip.

And then he realized he had been staring. “Well, I think it suits you. I’m Tony.”

“That’s a… nice name.” She was incredibly nervous, and it didn’t help that she had just bumped into her professor; her day wasn’t going as smoothly as she hoped for. _A nice name, Potts? Why don’t you tell him how nicely trimmed his eyebrows are? That’ll definitely score you points_ , she scolded herself again.

“Uh, we should probably go inside. He’s not one to favor tardiness.”

“Oh, right.” She turned around and mouthed a dramatic ‘what’. _God, you are such a mess, Potts._

She lost sight of Tony when she found an empty chair in the second row. The room was fairly large and was probably considered a lecture hall. Pepper glanced at the sign in the front corner of the room that said ‘max occupancy: 120’ and then looked around behind her. Students filed in left and right, and soon, all of the seats were taken. She tried looking for Tony, but she didn’t spot him.

 _Very nice. You scared him away._ She smiled to herself.

“Welcome to Physics 187.” She heard the professor say as she turned to face the front of the room.

The professor walked to the front of the class. “As you may know, I am Professor Fredrickson. I do not tolerate tardiness and my rule is five minutes. If you think you won’t make it to class within the first five minutes, then don’t bother to come.” Pepper noticed how raw his voice was, and for her first class, she was definitely intimidated.

“If you have any questions, please, don’t hesitate to come to my office hours or ask the student teacher.” He looked over to the door. “Mr. Stark will be the student teacher this year.”

Everyone turned to the door. When Pepper did, she nearly gasped. Tony was standing there, silently saying hello to the class with one hand up.

 _Of course he’s a student teacher. No regular student would be that cute…_ , Pepper smiled to herself, wanting the embarrassment to end.

“Mr. Stark is very knowledgeable and well educated, so please, don’t think just because he’s a student teacher that he doesn’t know anything.”

Tony smirked.

The professor continued. “Now, this class runs for two hours, Tuesday and Thursday. I do not require attendance, but I do want you all to learn, because that’s what college is all about, right? Learning and aspiring for greatness.” He looked over at Tony. “Mr. Stark, would you please pass out the syllabi.”

Tony dropped his messenger bag down behind the table in the front of the room and grabbed the stack of papers on top of it. His eyes looked up and down each row, counting the number of people and passing out the appropriate number of syllabi. When he got to Pepper’s row, he glanced at her and smiled, and continued to count.

Pepper took the stack of papers from the person in front of her, took one, and passed the rest back.

“Now, as you can see on the syllabus in front of you, there will be at least fourteen quizzes. Each of which will probably be given out every Thursday. I will remind you every Tuesday.” Everyone groaned and moaned, and the professor smirked. “Which will have a total weight of thirty percent. There is no homework in this class, but work will be assigned to help prepare you for the quizzes. There are also three exams in this class. First and second have a combined weight of thirty percent, and the final exam has a weight of forty percent.”

Pepper heard multiple people behind her mutter a ‘holy fuck’. That drew a red flag for her; if she wanted to get an A in the class, she would have to work really, really hard.

“I will not tolerate cheating. You are under the Academic Honesty and Integrity Policy. If I catch you cheating, you will be given an F in the class and reported to the administration. My office hours, as well as Mr. Stark’s office hours, is on the sheet. Our e-mail addresses are also on the sheet if you have any questions.”

Professor Fredrickson walked over to the table and took out a personal notebook; it was no doubt his class notes and agenda.

“Now, let’s begin this semester with the first section of the first chapter. Please, feel free to take notes.”

The two hours of class were going by at a snail’s pace. Pepper took notes and highlighted important information. She even took out her physics book at one time to check a formula. Tony smiled when he noticed how focused she was. He already assumed she was striving for perfection. He wondered how many hours a day she studied.

“Excuse me, professor?” Pepper raised her hand. “Could you explain how you got that answer, again?”

 _Five hours, tops_ , Tony told himself.

Before the class ended, the professor announced that the first quiz would be next Thursday. He even told the class what sections of the first two chapters to study.

After that first day, Pepper never really saw Tony outside of class, but she figured he was too busy to be roaming the hallways or the cafeteria. The rest of her classes were pretty awesome; she made some new friends in her History and Spanish class, and she even got an invite to a frat party.

She ended class at 5PM and entered her dorm room with a large sigh.

“Fun first day?” Her roommate asked. Pepper looked over at the other side of the room and saw her roommate on top of the bed, reading a magazine.

“Awesome.” Pepper responded sarcastically.

Maya laughed. “Oh c’mon, it couldn’t have been that bad.”

Pepper dropped her backpack next to her desk. “No… it was pretty bad. My physics class is going to be a pain in the ass.”

Maya smiled. “Aren’t all science classes?”

Maya Hansen was a science nerd and was majoring in bio-chemistry. She was a fourth year and very smart for her age. Pepper found her to be very nice, supporting, and reassuring upon arriving on her first day.

Pepper smiled back. “True. How were your classes?”

“Easy. I’m looking forward to my senior project, though.” Maya sat up. “I can’t believe you’re a mechanical engineering major. I didn’t really peg you as one.”

“Yeah, well, I took a lot of AP Calculus in High School and my parents recommended engineering, but I’m starting to dread it already.” Pepper flopped down on her bed and turned her head to look at her roommate.

“Well, you can always change majors. That’s what I did.”

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. “What did you major in?”

“Business. Wasn’t really for me though.” Maya responded, jumping off her bed. “Have you eaten yet?”

“I went to the cafeteria on the way back.”

“Oh. Want to go to any of the parties tonight? I heard there are a bunch.”

Pepper looked over at her book bag and remembered the physics quiz. “Mm… I think I’ll pass. I already have a quiz next week and I really don’t want to fail the class.”

“Studying so early? It’s only the first day.” Maya teased her.

Pepper sat up on her bed and sighed. “Don’t remind me.”

“Well, from what I’ve seen, most of the parties suck anyways.” Maya grabbed her messenger bag that was on her desk. “And I rather not get barfed on again.” Pepper laughed. “So, I’ll be going to the biology building to prepare for my senior project.”

“Okay,” Pepper watched her walk towards the door.

“Try not to study too hard.” Maya waved, just as she closed the door.

Pepper flopped back on her bed and groaned loudly; she could already tell the physics class was going to destroy her.

She spent the next two hours studying the first chapter. She had many questions and a lot of concerns. Most of the problems in the book were head scratchers for her. She started with the simple problems and then moved on to the harder problems, hoping they would have a nice transition, but she felt defeated when none of her answers matched the answers in the back of the book.

“How did they get that answer…?” Pepper asked herself as she flipped between the chapter and the book’s answers. “That doesn’t make any sense. None of this makes sense.”

The first week rolled by, and each day, she would study for physics for at least a couple hours. She read the chapter over and over, and then she would run through the problems again.

She asked questions during class and continued to take notes from the lecture. Tony was surprised to see her hand raised twice each class, and he smiled. There was no doubt in his mind that she would do well in the class.

Before quiz day, Pepper studied an extra three hours, and Maya continued to stare at her as if she were insane. Maya never really had to study for her biology and chemistry classes; a lot of it came naturally to her, but she did like researching topics that intrigued or fascinated her, which is what she did most of her time.

“This will be easy.” Pepper quietly told herself, as she walked to her physics class. “You’ve studied every single day and you’ve practiced every question. Easy… right?”

Everyone filed into the class and sat down. When the quiz hit her desk, she instantly froze; she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She looked at the front of the paper and then the back.

“What the hell?” She mumbled.

None of the problem solving questions looked familiar. The fill-in-the-blank ones were a breeze for her, but there were only three, and each were worth one point. The problem solving questions were worth much more, and there were ten of them.

“Fuck…” She groaned lowly, before she began to write out formulas.

Tony studied Pepper and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw her struggle. His worry grew when he saw her write and erase non-stop.

An hour flew by before the professor asked them to turn in their quizzes. Pepper looked down at her paper with worry; nothing looked familiar to her and each of her answers were either guesses or half-filled formulas.

The quiz was on her mind throughout the last half of class that the professor used for lecture. She, of course, took notes, but she could feel her own disappointment invade the back of her mind. She cursed under her breath and held her head up with her palm. Tony could tell by the frustrated and displeasing look on her face that the quiz didn’t go so well.

Pepper left the class with her head still wrapping around the quiz. She laid on her bed, over thinking about the quiz, and then she realized that she had to move on. She learned in High School that what’s done is done, and she had to worry about the next quiz.

Tuesday came around and, as usual, she took notes on the lecture. At the end of the lecture, the professor, once again, announced Thursday’s quiz, but what surprised her was the list of names that was projected in front of the class. And what bothered her was that her name was on it.

“If you see your name on the list, please visit me in my office by the end of the day.”

Pepper felt her heart fall through her chest and swallowed hard. She was worried, and maybe even a little scared. Being asked to visit the professor in his office was not known to be a good thing. After the professor dismissed the class, she slowly gathered her things.

She was scared, and a part of her was anxious. Once she finally got to the professor’s office, she saw a huge line filed along the wall. She added herself to the end and let her back hit the wall. She was starting to stress and worry over a small meeting, and she hated it – she hated it when she overreacted.

“Ah, Miss Potts.” The professor said when she crossed the threshold. “Please, sit down.” He gestured to the seat in front of his desk. She briefly looked at Tony, whom was sitting at his own desk in the back, and saw a small reassuring smile.

 _Oh yeah, this isn’t good…_ , she thought as she sat down.

The professor took out a piece of paper from the stack in front of him and placed it in front of her. It was her quiz, and there was a big ‘+8/20’ on it. She looked down at it in disappointment, and Tony could see the confidence drain from her eyes.

“Let me just say that you aren’t the only person that did bad on the quiz.” Professor Fredrickson

 _‘Bad’ was certainly an understatement_ , she thought with a large frown.

“I’m just here to warn you… If you continue to do poor on the next few quizzes _and_ the first exam, you might not pass the class.”

Tony watched her fake a small smile.

“I understand.” Pepper replied rather quietly.

“You may take your quiz if you want.”

Pepper nodded and took the quiz. She folded it up and silently walked out. Tony felt bad, mostly because it hurt to see her beat herself up over one quiz. She shoved the folded quiz in her pocket and blew out a heavy sigh. All of that studying and reviewing seemed worthless to her. None of the material was sticking as well as she thought it would, and it was a huge disappointment for her.

“Hey,” she heard a familiar voice behind her. “You okay?”

She turned around to face Tony, and saw the worry in his eyes. “Not entirely, considering I could fail this class.”

“Passing, not passing, and failing are three completely different things.” He smiled, hoping to see her return the smile, but she never did.

“I bombed the quiz.”

“Maybe you studied the wrong material?”

“I studied at least two hours every single day, Tony. I should’ve aced that quiz…”

“It’s only one quiz, Pepper.”

“Only one…” She really didn’t want to think about the rest of the quizzes, because all she saw was failure. “I should go…” She frowned. “…and drown myself in the cafeteria food.” She sounded depressed.

“Hey, hey,” He pulled her back when she started to walk away. “If you’re willing to let me, I’ll offer my services. Only because I care about you… and I hate it when you’re not smiling.”

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows, not exactly sure what he meant. “Excuse me?” She thought he was talking about prostitution.

“Tutor.” He clarified with a small smile. “I’ll tutor you.”

“Is that even allowed?”

“Yeah,” Tony nodded, trying to not delve into the temptation to count the freckles on her face. “I mean, as long as I don’t show you the exams and the quizzes, which would be stupid and defeat the purpose of tutoring. C’mon, what do you have to lose?”

Pepper raised an eyebrow at him. What he said was true, she really didn’t have much to lose, and she was already a little desperate. And Tony is a student teacher for the class—and he was cute. She smirked to herself.

 _Definitely all plusses,_ she told herself. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch.” He smiled warmly.

“No…” Pepper narrowed her eyes at him as she started to smile. “There’s a catch. You just don’t want to tell me.”

He laughed. “Here,” he took a card out of his pocket. “Here’s my phone number. Are you free to meet at the library after class on Tuesdays and in the afternoon on Wednesdays?”

She took the card and noticed it was a business card that read ‘Stark Industries’ with his name, phone number, and e-mail address at the bottom. The company sounded familiar to her.

“Uh… yeah.” She nodded. “I have a gap from 2PM to 5PM on Wednesdays.”

“Perfect,” Tony grinned. “We’ll start tomorrow. Sound good?”

Pepper returned the smile. “Yeah.”

\--

“Sounds like a date to me.” Maya grinned wildly as she sat on her bed. She was staring at Pepper whom was staring at Tony’s business card in her hand.

“He’s tutoring me.”

“I’ve seen enough porn to know what that means.” Maya laughed.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “I mean, he’s really cute… and adorable.”

“Oh, I see. _You_ want it to be a date.” Maya teased.

“What?” Pepper furrowed her eyebrows, trying to sound offended. “No. I don’t.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I just want to pass this class… and maybe even get an ‘A’.” Pepper lied. She really wasn’t sure where she wanted this ‘tutoring’ to go. She did want to pass the class, but that doesn’t mean that’s all she wanted. There was a certain level of friendliness and comfort that Tony had, and she couldn’t quite figure out how she felt about him. She was certainly attracted to him, but—

“Wait,” Pepper frowned. “What if he has a girlfriend?”

“Or… what if he has a boyfriend, hm?” Maya looked over at Pepper with curiosity, and Pepper looked back at her, wondering if he was indeed playing for the other team.

“No…” Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. “…Maybe…”

“What’s his name?”

“Tony.” Pepper looked up at the card.

“You should just ask him. No harm in doing it.”

Pepper jumped off her bed and put the card on her desk. “No. He offered to tutor me and that’s it. If there’s something more to it, then… there’s something more to it. I shouldn’t take advantage of him.”

Maya glanced at the card and smirked. “Sometimes I think men are a waste of time. I mean, why waste time on men when you could be researching the molecular structure of self-regenerating cells?”

Pepper laughed. “Only you would say that.”

\--

Pepper and Tony met at the library where they agreed to spend at least two hours working on chapter specific problems. They were towards the back of the third floor where most people would go to study. She sat at the table with the physics book, a pad of paper, and calculator, in front of her, while Tony sat beside her. Her backpack and Tony’s messenger back was on the other side of the table, as were two cups of coffee.

Tony surprised her with a cup of her own when she met him at the front sliding doors of the library building. At first she thought it was just a nice gesture, but then she started thinking more of it. Was Maya right? Was it really a date—or rather, a combination of a date and tutoring?

“Ten… divide by fifteen point seven…” Pepper muttered, working the calculations on her calculator. “And then we multiply by two—“

“Why multiply by two?” Tony asked.

Pepper turned to him slowly, still thinking about his question. “Um… because the acceleration—“

“No.” Tony cut her off. “Acceleration has nothing to do with this problem. The number is there, but sometimes you have to ask yourself if you really need it, which is where the second chapter comes into play. Did you review the second chapter?”

“Yeah, I did over the weekend.” Pepper sighed, trying to remember what she read.

He could tell she was getting frustrated. “It’s okay.” He tried to reassure her. “We can go over it together. Maybe you’re reading too much.”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Isn’t that what studying usually is—“

“Sometimes you over read, and when you do that,” he leaned in closer to her to turn the page to the beginning of chapter two. She felt her palms start to sweat when she felt his hot breath on her arm. “You begin to lose sight of what’s really important. You start to jumble up everything in your head and that’s when the frustration and confusion settles in.”

“Oh, hey, Pepper!” The familiar voice stopped her train of thought. She saw Matt, one of her friends from Spanish, waving at her from the elevators. She waved back when he started to walk towards her.

“Hey, Matt. What’s up?” She asked cheerfully.

“Nothing much. You studying for something?”

“Yeah,” Tony narrowed his eyes at the man. “We are.”

Pepper glanced at Tony briefly; the tone in his voice sounded a lot like jealousy, maybe even a bit defensive. “Yeah, we’re just going over a few things.”

“Cool.” Matt smiled. “You going to the party on Saturday?”

“I’ve been thinking about it.”

“Well, I think you should definitely go. Michael and Jorge are going—“

“I’m sorry.” Tony didn’t allow Pepper to answer. “We’re trying to study for something here. I’d appreciate it if you left. Maybe you could just text her and she could answer later.” His stern voice made him sound pissed.

Matt raised his eyebrow at Tony. “Uh, sure. Sorry. I’ll talk to you later, Pepper.” He smiled at her before he left.

Pepper turned to Tony once Matt was out of sight. “What the hell was that?”

“What?” He asked innocently.

“Was that jealousy?”

“I’m sorry?” Tony furrowed his eyebrows at her, not believing the words he was hearing. “Jealousy?”

“Yeah. He’s just a friend that started a friendly conversation.” Pepper was displeased with how he was acting.

“Okay, _Miss Potts_ ,” Tony leaned towards her. She didn’t like how he said her name, and she could tell he wasn’t happy. “I am not here as your conversation piece or companion. I’m here to tutor you so you don’t fail this class. Whatever thoughts you’re having about this situation, or whatever delusions you’re having—stop. You’re here to learn.”

They both stared at each other, and neither one of them seemed happy. Pepper finally looked away. “Fine.” She replied coldly.

Tony sat back in his chair with a sigh. _That is not how I wanted to start this…_

They studied together for the remaining hour and a half, and went their separate ways. Neither one of them were pleased with what happened. In Pepper’s mind, all thoughts of Tony being interested in her were gone, and a part of her was okay with that. After what happened in High School, she really didn’t feel like jumping into another relationship.

The second quiz was a lot better for her. Pepper recognized a lot more problems, and as always, the fill-in-the-blanks were a breeze. She worked on the remaining problems without any difficulties or second guesses, and towards the end of the quiz, she began to smile. When Tony saw her smile, he smiled as well, because that meant her confidence was back.

After the class, Pepper met up with Tony, mostly to apologize.

“I’m sorry,” She began. “I shouldn’t have thought differently of you tutoring me. It was wrong and completely disrespectful.”

Tony faked a smile. “It’s alright.”

“Thank you for tutoring me.” Pepper grinned. “I really appreciate it.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets. “No problem.”

“So…” Pepper briefly looked away. “I’ll see you on Tuesday—unless I see you beforehand.”

“Yup.” He nodded and watched her leave. His smile disappeared, almost instantly.

\--

“You did what?” Rhodey asked a little too loudly, setting down his drink on the bar. Rhodey was too busy at the air force to regularly grab a drink with Tony, but sometimes he made an exception to see his best friend. And what made him agree to meet Tony at the bar was when Tony mentioned he had women troubles, which was something Tony wasn’t known for.

Tony ran his hand through his hair. “I completely messed up. I mean, she’s really cute, but… I don’t know. Something came over me, and I just…”

“You basically acted like an asshole, which is something you do often.” Rhodey flagged down the bartender for another drink.

“Thanks. You’re such a great friend.” Tony replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the end.

“I’ve known you for a long time, Tony, and it’s almost a given you’re a jerk when you like someone.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. “Well, what do you suggest I do?”

“Stop beating around the bush and ask her out. Simple as that.” Rhodey replied before taking a sip of his beer.

“But she’s…”

“What? Is she not interested?”

“I don’t know…” Tony shrugged. “…I mean, she sounded interested at first, but after what I said to her, I don’t know if she is anymore.”

“What is with you people and asking? Just ask her if she’d like to grab some coffee sometime, or get some lunch. It’s not that hard to do.”

“Oh, okay, Mr. Big shot.” Tony glanced over at the brunette bartender. “Ask her.”

Rhodey looked over his shoulder and saw the bartender. “Okay.” He lifted his arm up to flag her down.

“Need another drink?” She asked with a bright smile.

“Actually, I was hoping to ask if you would like to get some coffee sometime… or we could grab lunch, if that’s more your thing.” Rhodey said, leaning closer to her and smiling widely.

The brunette laughed. “Sure, coffee sounds good. I’m Jessica, by the way.” She took out a napkin and wrote her number down on it. “James.” He greeted back. She slid it towards Rhodey’s right hand and winked at him. Once she was out of sight, he turned to Tony.

“Shut up.” Tony grumbled lowly before Rhodey could say anything, making Rhodey laugh.

\--

Tuesdays and Wednesdays went by one by one, and each time, Tony was too caught up in his own thoughts to ask her, or he was too afraid to ask. The vibe he was getting from Pepper wasn’t the same as the one he got from their first tutoring session. Everything felt different; she was more focused on studying and learning the material, which is what you’re supposed to do at tutoring sessions, but it wasn’t what he hoped for. He was hoping to get to know her, and maybe learn what foods she likes and dislikes.

After the fourth week, he realized the mistake me made. He hunched over the desk and groaned internally. _I screwed it up…_

“Tony?” He heard her ask. He almost shot up in response.

“Huh?” He was on full alert.

“Are you okay?” She asked with furrowed brows.

“Uh yeah.” He shook his head a bit to clear his mind. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking about something.”

“Oh. Um, do you think you could help me?” She turned back to her pad of paper where she had numerous formulas written down. “I’ve been looking for the correct formula but none of them fit the information, and before you ask, yes, I’ve read the problem three times and jotted down all the information I need to answer it.”

Tony smiled; his tutoring was paying off. “Let me take a look.” He leaned in closer to her and instantly noticed the slight smell of vanilla. He got a couple more sniffs in to realize the smell was coming from Pepper.

 _God, she smells good…_ , he sighed. He was disappointed in himself for screwing everything up. “Um… here. You need to combine them and then combine that one with this one.” He pointed at the formulas.

Pepper studied the three formulas. “Oh, that would make sense. Thanks.” She began to scribble down something on her notepad, and Tony took the time to squeeze in a question.

“Pineapples.” He blurted out unexpectedly.

“Huh?” She raised her eyebrow at him.

“Do you like them?” He nearly scolded himself for being such an idiot. _Pineapples!? Really, Stark!?_

“They’re okay. I actually love blueberries.”

“Oh, so you’re a berry type of person.”

“Mm, not entirely. I’m highly allergic to strawberries.” She told him, continuing to write down the last bit of the combined formula.

“That’s good to know.” Tony took a mental note. “Wouldn’t want to send you to the hospital with a pastry.”

Pepper laughed; God, he loved it when she laughed. “It’s happened before.”

“What?” Tony sounded surprised.

She turned to face him. “Yeah. One of my friends in Middle School had these crème puffs. She passed them out and I didn’t hear that they had strawberry filling in them. I puffed up really bad and could hardly breathe, and next thing I knew, I was being loaded into an ambulance.”

“Holy crap.” Tony blinked.

“Yeah. Fun times.” She smiled. There was a moment when she briefly furrowed her eyebrows; she wasn’t exactly sure why they were talking about pineapple, or what made him ask her if she liked pineapple, mostly because it didn’t seem like he was interested in small talk for the past few weeks.

She thought he was focused solely on tutoring her. She blinked a few times as she tried to analyze their current situation. She was growing more confused by the second.

“Um, what about you?” Pepper decided to reciprocate. “Any allergies?”

“Not that I know of.”

“And pineapple?” She smiled widely; the subject of pineapple suddenly became a funny inside joke between them.

He laughed. “I’m okay with pineapple, but I’m more favorable towards blueberries.”

“Really? And you’re not saying that because I said that, right?” She raised an eyebrow at him, wondering if he was get something going by establishing a common similarity.

“No, I’m serious. I could easily go through three pounds of blueberries in one sitting.” He tried to tell her, but she gave him a suspicious look. “Pepper, I’m not kidding.”

“Mhm.” She hummed, teasing him with a small smile.

“Okay, fine. I love pizza, pepperoni to be exact, I hate brussel sprouts, I think football is boring, I hate it when people tell me I can’t do something, I think legos are evil, especially when you step on them, and I have a thing for red heads.” He admitted and ended with a loud sigh. “Happy?”

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows; she wasn’t exactly sure if she heard right. “Wait—did you just say—“

“—That I have a thing for red heads?” They stared at each other, but Tony wasn’t fazed. He was used to being blunt and to the point. It was the highlight of his personality, according to Rhodey. “Yeah.” Now she was one-hundred percent confused.

\--

“Did he mean he was in to me, or was he just being general and hinting that his attraction to red heads excluded me?” Pepper made a juggling gesture with her hands. She didn’t exactly know what Tony wanted, and she wanted to ask him, but she was afraid he’d shoot her down. She even scolded herself for thinking he could still be interested her, once he was out of sight.

“Pepper,” Maya said after listening to Pepper explain what happened between her and Tony. “It sounds like he’s interested in you.”

“God!” Pepper groaned. “It’s like he’s toying with me—Is he interested or is he not interested!?”

“I thought you were relieved to see that he wasn’t interested in the first place.” Maya raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well… yeah…” Pepper sighed. The last thing she wanted to put up with was another possible relationship. “…but it’s… it’s him. There’s something about him that’s really… I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I can’t even describe it. He’s just…” She made a squeezing motion with her hands and groaned. “I hate him—him and his stupid band t-shirts and his cute ass in jeans…”

Maya rolled her eyes. “You want him.”

“Shut up.”

Maya laughed. “Just ask him out, I mean, the worst he can do is say no, right?”

Pepper hummed as she pondered. Flashbacks of her old High School boyfriend ran through her mind and she was suddenly set against the idea. “Maybe…” She muttered.

\--

“Holy crap.” Pepper said as she and Tony peered outside. Their physics class was let out a few minutes ago and as they walked to the sliding doors, they heard the _squish-squish_ sounds from the people coming in. It was pouring and it was quite a walk from the physics building to the library.

“This rain came out of nowhere.” Tony commented as he watched people outside run for cover.

“Well…” Pepper pressed her lips together. Neither of them had an umbrella, and she didn’t feel like using her backpack as cover and drenching it. She didn’t want to get soaked either. “The dormitory I stay at isn’t far from here. We could study there.”

Tony’s ears perked up; did he hear right? He didn’t know what to say, because the thought of being in a room with her, especially her room, made him a little nervous. He didn’t want to take advantage of her, or force her to do anything, and he couldn’t run for cover from any accidents that occurred, such as accidental shoulder bumps or finger grazes.

“Uh, sure.” He sounded unsure and cautious.

Pepper and Tony ran from cover to cover as they crossed the campus, and they managed to get to her dormitory without much trouble. The sleeves and shoulders of her sweatshirt were soaked however, but it wasn’t that terrible. He noticed her shiver as they walked up the stairs and through the hallway.

He wanted to ask her if she was cold, and if she wanted to borrow his jacket, but he fought the urge and continued to follow her. He was still fighting with himself in his mind; he didn’t know if he should ask her out, make a move, or hint that he was interested— _Really? How are you going to do that after you stopped all of that from happening? Are you going to throw a strawberry pastry at her and ask her out?_ , he rolled his eyes at himself.

“Idiot…” He muttered under his breath, scolding himself.

“Huh?” She thought she heard him say something.

“Nothing.” He quickly recovered.

She stopped at a door decorated with red and yellow paper; it almost looked like their door was spotted.

“Hello?” Pepper asked, entering the room.

“Hey.” Maya replied from her bed where she lay.

“Hi.” Tony greeted, and Maya nearly shot up.

“Oh, hello.” Maya eyed Tony with a small smile.

“Maya, this is Tony. Tony, this is my roommate Maya.” Pepper introduced them to one another.

Maya furrowed her eyebrows at him; the name and face was very familiar. “Oh, your dad is Howard Stark, of Stark Industries.”

Tony flashed a small smile. “Yeah.”

“Ah, no wonder I recognized you from somewhere. Your dad’s work is fascinating—it’s really ingenious.” Maya said with a sparkle in her eyes and a wide smile.

“Thank you. I’ll tell him that you said that.”

“Oh god,” Pepper groaned as she surveyed her sweatshirt; it was more soaked than she thought. “I should let this air dry in the bathroom… I’ll probably have to put it in the wash later.” She dropped off her bag, and grabbed her keys. “I’ll be right back.” She flashed a smile at Tony and closed the door behind her, leaving Maya and Tony alone.

Tony looked around the room nervously and noticed Pepper’s studious belongings; he spotted a calendar that was marked with due dates of homework and projects, and dates of quizzes and tests. He then spotted a cup on her desk that was full of pens, highlighters, pencils, and book markers.

He smirked to himself. _How adorable._

“That’s where I recognized you.” Maya spoke up.

“Hm?” Tony turned around to face her.

“Besides the Stark stuff, you’re the guy that everyone called a ‘playboy’ about three years ago.”

Tony’s heart dropped. “Where—Where did you hear that?”

“It was all around campus, I mean you had fliers at one point.” She noticed the horrified look on his face, and the darkness in his eyes.

“No,” He growled angrily. “I mean did someone tell you? Did you hear someone talk about it? Does Pepper know?” With each question, he stepped forward, and he sounded demanding and impatient.

“Whoa,” Maya backed away a bit. “I’m a fourth year here so I pretty much lived through it, and no, Pepper doesn’t know.”

He saw the fear in her eyes and immediately backed away. “I’m sorry—I just…” He paused to regain his composure. “…it’s not something I want to hear anymore. Please, don’t tell Pepper.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t.” Maya frowned. “Sorry I brought it up.”

The door popped open and Pepper emerged. “I’ll have to blow dry it later on tonight.” She stopped at the threshold and felt the tension in the air; she looked between the two with worry. “Is everything okay?”

“Uh, yeah.” Tony was the first to speak. He glanced at Maya and flashed a small smile. “We were just having a debate about—”

“—The molecular structure of water.” Maya finished his sentence with a wide grin. “Right?”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows. “Sure.”

“Oh shit.” Maya glanced at her watch. “I’m late for a Bio meeting.” She hastily grabbed her things and rushed towards the door. “Please, don’t have sex on my bed. That’s all I ask. I’ll be back later!” She closed the door behind her, leaving a very red Pepper and Tony alone in the room.

“She was just kidding.” Pepper said quickly.

“Mm.” Tony hummed to himself.

She quickly jumped into studying before the silence between them grew.  “So, um, I read through chapter six already, and I’m not that good with kinetic energy. A lot of the material goes straight thorough my eyes.”

“Oh, I can explain it to you.” He shrugged off his coat and looked around the room, trying to find a place to put it. He didn’t want to get her bed wet or her chair. Pepper stared at him and smiled; the look on his face was adorable. He looked like a lost puppy that didn’t know what to do and was too concentrated on searching for a solution to ask.

“You can just hang it on the door.”

After he hung it on back of the door, he stole Maya’s chair and carried it over to her desk. He sat next to Pepper and peered over her shoulder, as usual. Everything was fairly normal; they started on the sixth chapter, Pepper had questions, Tony had answers, and Pepper worked on a set of problems.

“I don’t even know if you need me anymore,” Tony joked with a small smile. “I mean, you aced the last three quizzes, and I hardly did anything.”

“Oh, shut up, Tony.” Pepper turned and grinned at him. “You’re the sole reason I’ve been acing them. I mean, if you weren’t here to explain things to me, I’d be probably be on the brink of failing.”

He tilted his head to the side and frowned a little. He could see her self-confidence, pride, and independence, and that’s what he liked about her – she was driven for success. What he didn’t want to see was her self-confidence slip away from her completely, because as hard as it is to gain self-confidence, it’s a lot easier to lose it. One strike and it all could vanish. “Pepper, you do realize this is mostly you, right? Yeah, I’m here to explain things to you and help you learn, but you’re the one that’s driving this whole thing. Without the determination and passion that you have, you probably would’ve failed the second quiz, regardless if I helped you or not.”

She tried not to smile; his words were sweet and thoughtful, and it certainly made her feel better about herself. “Tony—“

He leaned in a tad closer, and it took her by surprise. She didn’t expect his face to be so close to her; she could practically make out the pores on his face. “I’m serious.” He watched her look away bashfully. “This is all you.” His voice was husky and low, and it made her blush.

She turned slightly, hoping she wouldn’t bump her nose into his face, and smiled. He was so reassuring and comforting, and the only thought that crossed her mind was how good it might feel to have his arms wrapped around her.

 _Pepper! FOCUS_ , she yelled at herself. “Um,” she began to blush. “Thanks.”

He blinked and realized how close he was to her, so he leaned back. “Uh, yeah.” He cleared his throat and glanced at the pad of paper in front of her. He pointed at the problem she was working on and said, “That’s wrong, by the way.”

“What?” She nearly shrieked. “How is that wrong?” She stared down at her piece of paper.

Tony smiled; he thought it was cute how easily startled she could get, and the slight furrow of her eyebrows and look of confusion on her face made his chest warm up.

“Kinetic energy is the energy due to motion, and here, it’s a non-rotating object. So the energy of the object depends on its—“

“—mass and speed.”

“Correct.” Tony nodded.

“Oh, velocity is squared.” Pepper mentally hit herself. “That was dumb of me.”

“Just take your time. No need to rush.” He reassured her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her shiver again, and he finally noticed her light attire. She was wearing jeans, boots, and a thing cotton t-shirt that practically hugged her small frame. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You’re shivering.”

“Oh, I’m fine.” She tried to tell him, but truthfully, she was freezing.

“Don’t you guys have a heater in here?” He looked around their room.

“It’s automatic, and I don’t think it’s cold enough in here for it to turn on.”

He frowned. “Do you want my jacket?”

“No, no.” _Yes, I do_. “It’s okay. I’m fine.” _No, you’re freezing—think of how cozy his jacket might be. Figuratively, if you wore his jacket, it’ll feel like he’s hugging you._

“Are you sure?” he asked, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. When his palm hit her bare arm, it was like he touched ice. “Holy crap—Pepper.” She heard him hiss. He began to rub his hands up and down her arm, trying to warm her up as much as he could, and she blushed when she felt his chest bump into the back of her shoulder and his hot breath hit her bare neck. All she wanted to do was lean back into his chest and lay her head on his shoulder, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to seem desperate or needy—she didn’t want to make the first move, even if Tony had already done that.

“You don’t have to.” She tried to tell him, even if it did help, but he continued to rub her arm regardless of what she had to say.

“Do you have a sweatshirt you could wear, or maybe a blanket to put over your shoulders?” He worriedly asked her.

“I think I’ll be fine,” she stared down at her pad of paper—it was the only thing she could look at, at the moment without seeming like a nervous wreck. “We only have two problems left.”

He looked at the book and then at her pad of paper – she was right. After those problems, she would no longer need his help and their tutoring session would be over.

 _Oh right… tutoring…_ , he reminded himself with sorrow. His brain wrapped around the situation as he looked at his arm, her freezing body, and the corner of her mouth. He could see the softness in her lips and practically feel them pressed against his. He screwed his eyes shut and briefly scolded himself for thinking of such things, but they were so close, and if he inched a little closer and tilted his head to the side, then his lips would be right on hers. Everything had fallen into place and the only person that could propel things forward was himself.

 _But what if she pushes me away? What if she already has a boyfriend?_ , he asked himself as he watched her work out the last couple problems. _What is the worst she could do – slap you, kick you in the balls, shout at you and make everyone think you’re taking advantage of her, and get you fired?_ He smirked to himself. _Oh yeah. Perfect, Stark. Just perfect._

“Okay, so there’s only momentum and mass, and it’s asking for the kinetic energy. Ah,” she smiled. “This should be easy.” She jotted down the numbers, wrote down the formula, and applied the formula. While she did the simple calculation on her calculator, Tony was busy admiring every single bit of her – how cute her hair looked when it was half damp, how her freckles moved when she wrinkled her nose, how her lips thinned when she smiled, how small her hands were, and how her bangs perfectly framed her face – the list went on and on, and each time he added something to the list, he’d inch closer to her.

She was mesmerizing, and she only made him more anxious. She jotted down the answer and worked on the next one. She didn’t have to ask Tony if he thought something was wrong with the answer, because the problem was fairly easy.

“Assume no energy is lost to friction as it rolls…” Pepper hummed to herself. “…What speed does it have at the bottom?” She stared at the problem for a few more seconds before picking it apart. “So… initial potential energy is…” She wrote down the formula. “…and since initial kinetic energy is zero, then that just leaves final kinetic energy.”

He wasn’t paying attention to the question—he wasn’t sure exactly what he was doing at that point, because all he could manage to focus on was her. “Yeah,” he mumbled.

She pressed her lips together and hummed in thought. “At the bottom, when the surface flattens out, final potential energy would be zero… so the final kinetic energy should be the same as initial potential energy.” She jotted down another formula. “And since we’re looking for velocity…” She moved the formula around, making sure the ‘v’ was on its own side. Without asking, she began to crunch the numbers, and within a few seconds, she got the answer. She jotted it down and turned her head to ask if it was correct, but what she didn’t expect was how close he had gotten.

“Tony—” she breathed, unsure of what to do.

Without a word, he leaned in to kiss her. Alarms quietly went off in her head, but she didn’t budge. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it to happen, or not—yes, she wanted it to happen, but a certain part of her didn’t; she was conflicted.

He looked down at her lips, closed his eyes, and softly captured her lips with his. Her eyes refused to shut as the shock, of what was currently happening, ran through her body; she didn’t move and she didn’t protest to any of it.

She took note of how warm his lips were, how soft and gentle he was with her, and how he affectionately squeezed her shoulder. It was all heartwarming and loving, and everything about it seemed right. She didn’t protest - she allowed it to happen and didn’t realize it was happening until his body abruptly pulled away from hers.

“Holy shit.” He muttered as he leaned away. Pepper continued to stare in shock. “I—“ he looked horrified. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t—I mean, I did—but I—“ He rambled and was unable to form a coherent sentence. He immediately felt regret when he saw the stunned look on her face. “—hit me.”

Pepper broke out of her trance. “What?”

“I know you want to—I mean, you probably have a nice boyfriend who’s _a lot_ better than I am and here I am, being an asshole and—and kissing you…” He started to panic; he wasn’t sure of her desire, or feelings, for him.

“No…” She muttered.

“No?” He asked with a small whimper.

“I mean, no I don’t want to hit you.” Her lips formed a small smile.

“Oh.” He blinked. “I guess that’s a good sign.”

“And no, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh, that’s great—“ He began to smile, but stopped himself and frowned. “I mean, that’s bad.” His antics made her grin widen. He saw her smile and briefly returned it before remember what got made her smile in the first place. “I’m sorry. I… I’m not good at this. This might be a shocker, but I don’t… I don’t date often.” He looked at her and she just blinked. “Okay… Well, that hurts.” He let out a nervous laugh. “You know what, maybe I should just go…” He began to slide off the seat. “… and stick my face in a corner.”

She laughed, caught his wrist, and gave it a light tug. “Tony, stop. Come back.”

He stopped and stared at her; he could feel the displeasure and embarrassment build up into one giant ball of regret. He felt like an idiot for kissing her in the first place— _God, Stark. What the fuck were you thinking?_

His stomach felt empty, and his palms were sweating. “Maybe you should just forget it ever happened.”

“You want me to forget?” She asked softly. She didn’t look angry or confused; she actually looked relaxed.

He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “Do you… do you want to forget?”

Did she? She wasn’t exactly sure. “No.”

His eyes lit up. “You don’t?” He felt his heart flutter.

“Do you want me to forget?”

“That depends… are you…” He paused and screwed his eyes shut. “God, I feel like an idiot. Okay. I’m just going to—okay.” Pepper let his hand slip from hers. She smiled as she watched him unfold into utter nervousness. He opened his eyes and continued. “Do you want to grab some coffee sometimes—or grab some lunch, if that’s more your thing.” He could feel a spiritual Rhodey triumphantly standing behind him and patting his back.

Happiness blossomed inside her once she replayed his words in her mind. He was asking her out, albeit nervously, but he was pretty darn cute doing it. “Sure.” She smiled. “Lunch sounds good.”

His lips instantly cracked into a smile. “Really?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“So what I said a few weeks ago…”

“…threw me off.” She finished.

“Yeah…” He scratched the back of his head and winced. “I’m… sorry. I shouldn’t have said any of it.”

“No, no. It was completely called for.”

“Oh, thank god.” He blew out a laugh and stopped once he realized he was acting like an idiot. “I should just stop talking.”

Pepper smiled widely. “Do you think you could check the last—“

“Oh, no. It’s correct. I saw it before I kissed you.” He nodded nervously.

“Then I guess we’re done for today.” She replied, equally as nervous, and looked down at her hands.

“Yeah…” He frowned.

“Um… tomorrow, before tutoring, we could grab lunch at the cafeteria.”

He looked up and smiled. “That’d be nice. Yeah, we can do that.”

“Okay.” She got up from her chair and watched him gather his messenger bag. He grabbed his jacket, wrapped it around his back and slipped his arms through the sleeves. He zipped it up half way and then hung his messenger back on his shoulder and across his chest. He stood in front of the door with his back to it and smiled warmly at Pepper.

“This was nice.” She said, stopping in front of him. “I mean, all of the tutoring sessions were nice…”

“Except for the kiss, right?” He winced a bit.

“No, no.” She smiled widely. “The kiss was nice, too.”

He began to smile widely as she inched closer to him. “Yeah?” She wanted to kiss him again – she wanted reciprocate the same mutual feeling of interest and, more importantly, wanted to relive his soft, warm lips against hers.

“Yeah.” She leaned in when he did, and both of them closed their eyes, but at the last second, the door popped open and hit Tony’s back, making him shuffle forward a bit. Pepper’s head bumped into his chest and his hands steadied her by the waist, worried that she had lost her balance.

“Hey, what—“ Maya sounded confused and befuddled; she was probably wondering why the door wouldn’t open. The first thing she saw was Tony’s hands on Pepper’s waist, and then she looked up at the two. Both of them instantly turned red. “—Whoa. I have terrible timing. Uh…” she slowly closed the door, and before it shut, they heard her say, “…continue”.

Pepper and Tony both gazed at each other, and they could both see the red blossoming on the other’s cheeks. Tony jumped back when he realized where his hands were. She almost jumped when he did.

“I’m sorry—I should go.” He gasped nervously.

Pepper tried not to frown. “Okay.” He opened the door and turned around. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Right. At the cafeteria.”

“Mhm.” She nodded and pressed a kiss to his cheek. She laughed softly when she saw his eyes widen. “Bye.” He backed out of the door with a small grin.

“Bye.” He finally turned around and nervously shoved his hands in his pockets. “Bye, Maya.”

Maya waved to Tony as he passed her. The huge grin on her face told Pepper exactly what she was thinking. Maya slipped into the room before Pepper closed the door.

“Do I hear wedding bells?” Maya joked, setting her bag down onto her bed.

“Hardly.” Pepper grinned shyly.

“So, you two finally jump each other?” Maya leaned against her bed and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Actually…” Pepper pressed her lips together cutely. “…He’s the one that kissed me.”

“What?” Maya grinned widely, raising her eyebrow. “That’s adorable.”

“So, how was your Bio meeting?”

“Huh?”

Pepper blinked. “Your Bio meeting. The one you left for.”

“Oh, pft,” Maya smirked. “You really think there was a Bio meeting I had to go to?” Pepper chuckled and shook her head.

\--

“Damn, this is really good.” Tony slurped up some spaghetti with a delightful hum. Pasta sauce got all over the corners of his mouth, and once he realized where he was, he paused and looked up with wide eyes.

Pepper was staring at him with a wide, adoring grin. Her plate was half empty, but watching Tony eat was more appealing than the Chinese Chicken salad.

“Oh shit, I’m on a date.” He muttered. “Oh god—“ He took a napkin from the tray on the side and wiped his mouth. He could hear her start to laugh.

“Tony, it’s fine. This is kind of refreshing.” She tried to reassure him.

“What, my bad manners and total lack of social skills?” Tony pressed his lips together and gave her a lopsided frown.

“The fact that you’re acting normal and not pretending to be a complete gentleman to impress me.” She told him.

Tony grinned and tilted his head to the side, loving every single word she said. He furrowed his eyebrows and replied, “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Sometimes a woman doesn’t need to be impressed. Sometimes she just wants something… real.” Pepper dug her fork into her salad and brought the leaves up to her mouth. Tony pushed a meatball around with his fork and smirked. “So, Maya and I were talking last night.”

His heart suddenly dropped. Those were not the words he wanted to heart. _Did Maya tell her about—_ His eyes widened as he blocked out the rest of the cafeteria, ignoring the bustling students that came in and out, and the people talking around them.

“And she said that you’re pretty much a genius.” She ate another fork full of salad.

“What?” Tony muttered.

“Yeah. She said you were prodigy. You started studying at MIT when you were 15, and you left with two master’s degrees by 19. You were supposed to take over Stark Industries’ weapons development department at 21.”

He felt the panic die, and he almost let out a sigh of relief. “You Googled me?”

“A little. Maya did, actually. I just… looked over her shoulder.” Pepper admitted.

Tony raised his eyebrow. “What else do you know about me?” Dare he even ask that question? He wanted to know if she knew about his past. He hoped she didn’t, but if she did and she was okay with it, then that was just one more thing off his chest.

“That you don’t like your father.”

Tony nodded; he was mildly impressed. “Did Google tell you that?”

“Not really.” Pepper pushed around the mandarin oranges in her salad. “I saw a picture of you and your father, and… I could see that you two didn’t get along.” She didn’t want to push any buttons, or anger him in any way. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—“

“—No. It’s fine.” He smiled. “It’s pretty obvious, anyways.”

“How come you didn’t work for Stark Industries?” Her curiosity peaked. “I mean, you’re really smart and inventive—I even saw the article on your first robot, and you were only 16.”

“Inventions and robotics…” Tony sighed. “They’re all hobbies of mine. Yeah, I’m a genius,” he could feel his ego boost. “but Stark Industries… that’s not where I wanted to spend my life at.”

“And you want to spend your life as a teacher?” She raised her eyebrow.

“I want to see that spark of inspiration and brilliance in people’s eyes, like the little twinkle you had in your eyes when you aced the second quiz. _That’s_ what I want to see. I want to teach people and help people learn.” Pepper began to smile; she could tell by the look on his face and the curve of his lips that he was passionate about teaching. “Anything else?”

“You like redheads.” She smirked, and he chuckled.

“Okay. Since you seem to know _everything_ about me, tell me about yourself. Does your father work for the government? Is your mother a librarian? How many apple trees do you have in your backyard?” Tony asked playfully before putting half a meatball in his mouth.

Pepper pondered for a second while she looked down at her salad. “Um… My dad left us when I was little and my mom is a 2nd grade teacher. We actually have two apple trees in the backyard and an orange tree in the front.” When she looked up, she saw Tony’s sorrow filled expression.

“Wow, Rhodey was right. I am an asshole.” Tony blinked. “I’m sorry—I didn’t—“

“It’s okay.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t have known.”

“So, it’s just you and your mother?”

“And grandmother. My dad’s side of the family isn’t there that much.” Pepper shook her head a bit. “Let’s actually change the subject.”

“Yeah…” He frowned, feeling guiltier by the second. “...This is stupid.”

“Huh?” Pepper asked worriedly.

“This should count as a half-date, considering I just acted like an asshole and practically slammed my face in my food.” He smirked when he heard her chuckle. “Why don’t I take you out on Saturday?”

“Saturday?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You have nice clothes, right?”

“Um… I think so.” Pepper blinked; she wanted to know where he was taking her, and if he was asking about whether or not she had something nice to wear meant that he was going to take her somewhere really extravagant.

“Good, because they’ll throw you out if you don’t.” Tony twirled the last of his spaghetti on his fork and ate it. Pepper stared at him, as if he were crazy. She didn’t want him to feel obligated to treat her to some fancy dinner, or anything special. She was a simple girl that didn’t require a lot, and in no way did she want to take advantage of him.

“Tony, you don’t have to—“

“No, I want to.” He tried to tell her. “At least let me _try_ to impress you.” They both smirked. “Favorite cuisine?” He asked out of the blue.

“Uh… Italian.” Pepper answered.

“Pets?”

“One dog, and a few fish. What about you?”

“Uh, one cat.” Tony nodded. “A very lazy and mean cat.” She laughed.

“He can’t be that bad.”

“No… it’s bad.” He chuckled and stared at her, admiring the depth of her ocean blue eyes and the light orange color in her hair. He found himself trying to count her freckles and had to stop before it got out of hand. “Uh, you done?”

“Oh, yeah. We should probably start studying.” She picked up her tray, but he lifted it out of her hands.

“Don’t worry. I got it.” He said, carrying the trays to its drop off section. Pepper stared at his back as he left, and smiled. Even their first ‘half-date’ was a lot more complicated and informative than she wanted it to be, it was nice. Not a lot of people knew about her father, or her family, but telling Tony gave her some comfort and reassurance. Something about him calmed her.

\--

“Lucky for you, it’s Italian.” Tony said to Pepper, before he got out of his Audi and tossed the keys to the valet worker. He rounded the car and opened the door for Pepper; she held onto his hand as she climbed out of the car. Her eyes lit up and her mouth opened in awe when she saw the front of the restaurant.

She wore a blue backless silk dress that complimented her curves in every way possible. Tony had to practically force himself to look away after he picked her up – the last thing he wanted to do was crash his Audi. He must’ve told her a dozen times how beautiful and gorgeous she looked.

Tony wore a signature tux. It was nothing too extravagant, or flashy. It was the perfect blend of normal and sexy—which is what exactly Pepper thought throughout the entire evening. She could barely take her eyes off him while he was driving. There was just something about a man dressed in a crisp suit that smelled of heaven that turned her on.

People, dressed in extravagant and exotic clothing, gathered at the front. She was even amazed to find that the entire entrance was carpeted; she half thought she was living a dream.

“You okay?” Tony asked her, holding onto her hand as they walked to the front.

“Uh… yeah.” Pepper shook her head. “I’m sorry, this is just really—“

“—overwhelming?”

“Kind of.” She tried to smile.

“It’s okay. They’re all people.” He tried to reassure her.

“Yeah… people with a net worth that’s more than what is in my bank account.” She mumbled.

“Ah, Mr. Stark.” The man at the front greeted him with a firm handshake. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you here.” Pepper noticed his attire was different from the rest of the waiters, and assumed he was the manager, or owner. When he spotted Pepper, he smiled. “And you must be Mr. Stark’s date.” She blushed and felt Tony’s hand squeeze hers. “Please,” the man gestured to the back. “Right this way.”

Pepper could feel all of the people’s eyes in the restaurant on her. We’re they staring at her, or him? She wasn’t exactly sure, but she figured being the son of a multi-billion dollar company caught some attention.

The man brought them to a small private room in the back; the room was coated with a dark red color and golden yellow drapes. The table was covered with a white cloth and plated perfectly. After they were seated, and after the man chatted up Tony for a couple more minutes, they were finally alone.

When Pepper opened the menu, there were no prices attached to the selections, which meant one of two things – either the food was _that_ expensive, or every customer they have is too wealthy to care.

“Pick anything you want, okay?” She heard Tony tell her.

She felt dirty – she felt like she was taking his money. “Tony—I don’t think—I mean, this is really nice, but I don’t think I…” He stared blankly at her. “…At least let me pay for… a tenth of it…” She bit her bottom lip. “Or at least however much I can cover.”

He smiled warmly at her. “Pepper, it’s okay. It’s covered.”

“No, I mean, this is too much. I don’t even think my tuition can cover this.” She exaggerated. “It’s not worth bringing me here—“

“Stop.” He replied softly. “You’re thinking way too much. It’s already paid for and everything, so don’t even think of ordering the cheapest item on the menu. And… for what it’s worth, I think you’re worth it.” She stared at him and felt blush blossom along her cheeks. She didn’t know if she heard him right, or if he meant to say something entirely different. Her heart swelled and her palms warmed up; she began to nervously rub her thumbs against the leather border of the menu, and eventually, broke out into a small smile.

Yeah, she liked him.

\--

“Really, you took her to Valso’s?” Rhodey frowned. “You’ve never taken me there.”

“Oh, we’re dating?” Tony smirked, downing a shot of vodka.

“Might as well if we keep meeting like this.” Rhodey laughed, taking a sip of his beer. “How’d she like it?”

“She… seemed indifferent.” Tony shrugged. “I mean, it seemed like she liked it. Maybe I started off on the wrong foot…” He hummed to himself. “…maybe I should’ve taken her to a different restaurant, like Simon’s or The Roaster.”

“Oh yeah, take her to some _other_ five star Michelin restaurant.” Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“I could tell she was uncomfortable the entire time…” Tony covered his face with his hands. “Oh god. I’m such an idiot.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Rhodey mumbled and winked at Jessica when she came around to refill Tony’s shotglass. Jessica smiled widely and went back to bartending. “Did you at least kiss her good night?”

\--

“You guys made out?” Maya stared at Pepper in shock.

“No. It was just a few kisses.” Pepper laid on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

“So… you guys made out.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “He was really sweet and nice… and really, really hot in that tux.” She couldn’t stop thinking about him in a tux. “God damn, he was hot.”

Maya laughed. “Can’t argue with a sexy man in a tux. So, when’s the next date?”

“Tuesday.” Pepper mumbled. “We’re seeing a movie.”

“Wow. He takes you to the most expensive restaurant in the world and then switches to movie dates.” Maya raised an eyebrow and nodded. “He’s definitely a keeper.” Pepper wasn’t sure if she was being sarcastic.

“He’s…” Pepper paused and smiled widely. She was thinking about how soft his lips were, and how gentle he was, holding her and rubbing her shoulder. She thought of the hug they shared before they went their separate ways, after he dropped her off. The feeling of his strong arms wrapped around her, protecting and shielding her from the world made her melt. “…He’s really something.”

“Okay, before you start flying off to gooey-land…. Here.” Maya reached in one of her desk drawers and pulled out a wrapper.

“What the—“ Pepper took it from her. “—Why are you giving me a condom—why do you even have condoms?”

“It’s just in case—and condoms are free at the health center. Doesn’t hurt to take some.” Maya smirked.

\--

After Tuesday’s class, Tony and Pepper went over the next chapter, and before they parted ways for a few hours, he squeezed her hand and told her he’d be over later. At that moment, she still wasn’t over how close and affectionate he’s been. He’d lightly touch her lower back whenever they’d be walking together, he’d squeeze her shoulder to reassure her, he’d hug her good-bye, and sometimes he would kiss her good-bye.

While she watched him go his separate way, she bit her bottom lip; there was something about him that made her crazy—not the whacky, crazy type, but the adorable, crazy type, that would roll over in the middle of the night, think about him, and groan loudly.

After her last class, she started working on her homework. She planned to take a few minutes to fix her hair and make-up before he showed up, but the soft knock on the door took her by surprise. She cursed under her breath and hastily ran her hands through her hair, checking herself in the mirror and making sure she at least looked semi-decent.

Before she opened the door, she shut her eyes and prayed that the evening wouldn’t be a complete flop. When she opened the door, the first thing she saw was Tony’s wide smile and gorgeous brown eyes. He was dressed in the same black blazer, faded red t-shirt, and dark denim jeans.

The first thing he saw were the freckles on her cheeks and arms. He’d always see her in a sweatshirt, so he would rarely get to see the ones on her arms. There weren’t many of them, but there were enough of them to make him wonder where the others were.

He lifted up the bags in his hands. “I got popcorn and drinks.”

She gestured for him to come in. “You didn’t have to, Tony. We have snacks in our room.”

“Yeah, but you can’t watch a movie without popcorn.” He walked inside and set the bags down on top of her chair. He tilted his head to the side in curiosity when he saw what was on her desk. Beside her books, paper, and pencils, he saw a wrapper—it was a condom. It was the condom Maya gave her days before, and Pepper forgot to put it away. “If I knew, I would’ve brought my own.”

“Huh?” Pepper hummed, walking up next to him. When she saw what he was talking about, she gasped, and began to babble. “Oh god, that’s not—“ She blushed bright red. “—Tony, it’s not what—I mean, it’s not mine. Maya gave it to me, because she thought we were going to have sex, and I just—“ She stopped herself and closed her eyes to double back. “…That is not what I wanted to say.”

Tony laughed, and took out the small bottles of soda and the various packets of popcorn. “I was just teasing you, Pepper.” He smiled warmly. “You’re kind of cute when you’re flustered.”

When her eyes caught the warm smile, the blush on her cheeks got redder. His surprising compliments always took her by surprise. She quickly took the wrapper and threw it in her side desk drawer, and then made a mental note to kill Maya later.

“So, what movie are we watching?” He asked.

“Um, I have Netflix. We can just choose whatever sounds good on there.”

“Mkay.” Tony handed her one of the bottles.

She took the bottle and smirked. “Really?” She asked, twisting the cap and hearing the fizzing sound ring in her ears. The bottle in her hands read ‘Dr. Pepper’.

“What?” He asked, taking out his own bottle of ‘Dr. Pepper’. “I thought these were perfect for the occasion.”

“Uh huh.” She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re not the first one that’s done this.” She took a sip and climbed on top of her bed. She used the remote to navigate through the streaming choices on Netflix.

“Kettle or normal?” Tony asked, holding the packets of popcorn up.

“Kettle.”

“Is it okay if I use your microwave?” He asked politely.

“Yeah.”

Pepper rolled through the categories, hovering over horror, adventure, thriller, and comedy. She hummed to herself; she really didn’t know what kind of movies Tony liked. Well, there were a lot of things she didn’t know about him.

“Tony?”

Tony pressed the popcorn button on the microwave. “Hm?”

“Any preference?”

He looked back at her and walked over to see the selection. He came over to her bed and looked at the selection. “Uh…” He really didn’t have a preference—as long as they weren’t romantic comedies or sappy movies. “…How about something Disney? Those are always fun to watch.”

Pepper smirked. “So, you’re a Disney type of guy.”

“They’re good movies.”

Pepper scrolled through the Disney movies and landed on ‘Dumbo’. “How about this one?”

He hummed and smiled; he hadn’t seen that movie in a very long time. He almost forgot what happened. “Sure.” He walked away when the microwave began to beep. He took the popcorn out and carefully opened the bag, juggling it between his fingers.

He came over to her bed and sat down next to her. He let the bag of popcorn cool down on her desk while he took a few sips from his drink. He knocked off his shoes and laid down next to her, shoulder to shoulder. Pepper pressed a button on the remote and started the movie.

“Oh,” Tony hopped off the bed. “Let me turn the lights off.” He turned them off, and Pepper could feel the tip of her ears start to warm up. She was nervous—why was she nervous? It was their third—okay, second and a half—date. They’ve been pretty close in the past week, so there really was nothing to be nervous about.

He hopped back onto the bed and brought over the popcorn. Pepper was the first to dig her hand in and shove a handful in her mouth. They took turns putting their hands inside the bag while the movie played.

About ten minutes in and the popcorn was finished. A few minutes later and he heard her start to sniff. He furrowed his eyebrows a bit and looked over at her, using the light of the television to see her face.

He smirked. “Are you…” She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her t-shirt and began to look away. “…Are you crying?”

She sniffed again. “No… you’re crying.” She retorted.

He laughed. “Pepper, you know it’s just a movie, right?”

“It’s a sad movie…” She muttered, wiping away her eyes again. Her eyes weren’t puffy, but they were close to it. “…I mean, her mom… and her trunk…” She sniffled. “…And she’s cradling… Dumbo…” Tears began to bead at the corner of her eyes.

“Aw, Pep.” He cooed. “Come here.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and hugged her to his side. She pressed her head against his chest and wrapped her arm around his middle. He rubbed her shoulder up and down, and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She sighed as they continued to watch the movie. With their bodies in such a relaxed position, she found it incredibly hard to stay awake. As the movie continued, her eyes would flutter close and spring open repeatedly, and towards the end of the movie, she fell asleep.

Tony didn’t notice until the movie ended. He smiled once the movie ended, because the last time he saw the movie, it was with his mom, and the movie reminded him of those childhood memories he cherished.

“Mm,” He hummed to himself before yawning. “What time is it?” He looked at the clock on her desk and saw that it was almost 10PM. The first thing he thought about was his drive home, and then he thought about his evil cat. The cat had food, it just didn’t like eating dry food unless he was forced to. “Pepper, I—“ He stopped himself when he saw that she wasn’t moving. He dipped his head towards her, and saw that her eyes were closed and her breathing evened out.

She fell asleep on him, and all he could do was smile, because she was cuddled up to his side and burying her cheek into his chest. It was too cute for him to even think about disturbing her slumber, so he carefully moved into a comfortable position and draped her blanket over their bodies.

He turned off the TV and willingly let slumber take over him. He fell asleep with his arm around her shoulders, and his head firmly in her pillow, while she used his chest as a pillow of her own. In the middle of the night, he smiled; things couldn’t have gone better.

\--

Pepper awoke with a soft groan. The sun’s rays, that seeped through the blinds and invaded her room, hit her smack-dab in the eye. She winced and began to flutter her eyes open. She propped herself up with one elbow and felt something, or someone, underneath her arm. She hummed in curiosity and turned her head to the side to see what, or who, it was.

When she came face to face with Tony’s, she nearly yelped. She first opened her mouth in shock, and then she looked away and blinked, almost as if she was fighting with herself on whether or not she was dreaming. She looked at him again and then down at their bodies.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they were both fully clothed. Memories of the previous night flashed through her mind, and when she realized what had happened, she wanted to smack herself in the face. She fell asleep on him— _Very good, Potts. You’re such a great date_ , she scolded herself.

She gently shook him. “Tony?”

“Mm…” He slowly opened one eye, looked at her, and then closed it. “Five more minutes…” He mumbled.

Pepper smirked; he was so cute. “Tony, wake up. It’s 8AM.”

“Huh?” He mumbled, fluttering his eyes open.

“You slept over.” She muttered, trying to find out a way to move around him, but she was trapped between his warm, and somewhat muscular, body, and the wall.

“Yeah he did.” They both heard a familiar voice say from the doorway.

They both turned their heads and they saw Maya standing in the doorway with a large smirk on her face. Pepper rolled her eyes, because she knew exactly what she was thinking, and Pepper couldn’t blame her.

“Feeling cozy, you two?” Maya asked with a raised eyebrow as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her. Pepper watched her drop her book bag on her bed.

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows. “Did you… did you just walk in?”

“Yeah. I stayed over at Melinda and Nat’s last night. We got caught up watching Korean dramas, and you were on a date, so I decided to _not_ take the chance of walking in on you two.” Maya replied, grinning at the couple. “So, how was the date?”

“Perfect.” Tony replied, squeezing Pepper. She dug her head into Tony’s chest and smiled. “…until she fell asleep on me.”

Pepper gave a flat expression. “I was tired…” She mumbled.

“So was I, but did I fall asleep on you?” He teased.

She rolled her eyes and mumbled a, “Whatever…” and added, “And why didn’t you wake me up?” Pepper asked rather suspiciously.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. You seemed really comfortable, peaceful, and relaxed. I didn’t want to wake you up from that… And besides,” He began to grin. “You say the cutest things in your sleep.”

Pepper blushed bright red. “I—I talked in my sleep?”

Maya nodded knowingly. “You always talk in your sleep.” Pepper looked between the both of them and mumbled something incoherently. She didn’t know if she should be worried or embarrassed. She began to untangle herself from Tony, seeing as Maya was enjoying the show a bit too much.

Maya chuckled at the couple and watched them untangle themselves from each other. She busied herself by unpacking her things from her bag, and at the same time, kept an eye on them.

Tony tugged on his coat and picked up his messenger bag while Pepper straightened herself out, smoothing out her clothes and hair.

He turned to face Pepper and flashed a warm smile. “Sorry I slept over. It won’t happen again…”

Pepper shrugged and grinned. “It was… kind of nice.” Maya could barely control her internal squealing.

“…Unless you want it to happen again.” He finished with a low chuckle. He leaned in and gave her a small kiss on the lips. “I’ll talk to you later.”

She lingered on his lips before she felt him pull away. It was too soon for her—way too soon for her. She wanted to relive the night they made out in front of her doorway, his hands on her waist and her arms around his neck. She blamed the delicious food for that moment.

“Okay.” She muttered, watching him open the door.

“Text me, okay?” He smiled before he left.

“Mhm…” She hummed longingly before she watched him leave for a few seconds. When she closed the door, she closed her eyes for a second. Everything about him wasn’t perfect, but it was perfect to her. He was nice, sometimes a bit of an ass, but he was affectionate and adorable—she nearly melted on the spot. When she turned around, she was met with Maya’s incredibly wide grin. “Don’t say it.”

“What?” Maya laughed. “What am I going to say?”

“I don’t know, but whatever it is, keep it to yourself.” Pepper smirked; she was happy, too. Very happy.

\--

“I don’t understand.” Pepper muttered between licks. Tony texted her in the evening, asking if she wanted to grab some ice cream with him. She didn’t know why she agreed to it, since she knows she gets cold easily and shivers non-stop unless she was wrapped in three blankets… and maybe Tony. She smiled at the thought.

“Hm?” Tony asked, licking his Rocky Road ice cream cone.

They were both walking on the sidewalk, enjoying the various lighted shops and restaurants as they passed by. They weren’t holding hands, but they were fairly close. Pepper almost wished they were holding hands, since she was freezing her butt off. Her hoodie and jacket combination didn’t help her cause, but it certainly caught Tony’s attention as thoughts of how adorable she looked continuously ran through his head.

“You’ve never tried sushi, but you’ve had sashimi.” She narrowed her eyes at him, and he laughed.

“What? I didn’t think that was illegal.”

“It’s illegal in my eyes.” She smiled, licking her Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream cone. “I need to take you to an all you can eat sushi place.”

“You just want to get me fat.” He joked.

“I can guarantee you, you’ll love it. You’ll eat so much, you’ll feel full for the next couple days.” She promised him, shoving her hand inside her jacket pocket.

He smiled warmly at her and nodded. “Okay then, it’s a date. And I’m holding it to you, Potts.”

Pepper smile widely at the thought of another date, but that smile soon faded when she thought of _another date_. It was almost a week since he accidentally slept over, and in that time, they’ve been on two other dates.

He took her to the movie theater, where he joked they couldn’t accidentally sleep together, and where she blushed and nudged him in the ribs. He bought the popcorn and she bought the drink, and as the movie started, he had his arm around her and she was leaning against his chest. It was a lovely night, and it pushed their relationship forward by a couple inches. He finished the night with a couple kisses and a warm hug.

He then took her to one of his favorite spots; it wasn’t a restaurant or a movie theater. It was the park. He took her to the park towards the end of the afternoon and brought a picnic basket with him. Once they got to a perfect spot on the flat end of the hill, he laid down a blanket and took out a few sandwiches and some drinks. He apologized to her, telling her that the food wasn’t anything special and that he isn’t known to be a culinary artist. She laughed and forgave him. After they ate, he brought out some pie and told her it wasn’t strawberry pie, so she didn’t have anything to worry about. After they ate some pumpkin pie, they laid down on the blanket and cuddled, and watched the sun set. He, of course, ended the evening with a few kisses and a hug.

He was over the moon about her, and he liked their dates. He liked how simple they were, aside from the extravagant one he took her on, and how they eased into the regularity of kisses, hugs, and holding hands. He was already easing into the idea of being in a relationship with her, and he loved it. He loved seeing her, and exchanging glances and smiles. He loved being around her.

Pepper, however, was still thinking about the thought of being in a relationship again. She’s taken the time to ponder about it, and had to tell herself that it was going to be different. A lot has happened in the past, and unfortunately, she couldn’t forget any of it.

“Tony?” Her thoughts and doubts consumed her as she stopped off to the side.

He stopped and curiously looked at her. “Hm?” He walked over to her.

She let her ice cream cone start to melt. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

He raised his eyebrows, worried that she wasn’t into their relationship as much as he was. “Of course not. Why?”

She shook her head a bit as she found herself delving into the past. “No—I mean, it’s just that…” He didn’t need to know about her past, at least not yet. This look of seriousness washed over her. “…Where do you want this to go?”

His heart dropped; he couldn’t wrap his head around her question, and he first interpreted it as a bad thing. “This?” His mouth was dry as he let his ice cream cone melt in his hand.

“Us. Dating.” She clarified.

“Oh.” He instantly felt better as he realized what she was asking about—he almost felt relieved. “Well, I was hoping… we could keep doing this...” He looked away shyly and smiled. When she didn’t answer, he continued. “…Maybe as my girlfriend.” He finished with a warm grin.

She smiled widely. “Girlfriend?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Yeah. I mean, I know what I said sounded corny and cheesy, but… I was kind of hoping you’d say yes.” He then winced. “—And now it sounds like I’m proposing…” He felt like he was tripping all over himself. In his eyes, it felt like he was making things incredibly awkward, and he turned away shyly when he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. “God, I’m terrible at this.”

She chuckled and then reached up to cup his cheek, stroking it with her thumb. Her warm fingers pressed against his cold cheek, soothing it and making the pit of his stomach warm up. Her affectionate and adoring gesture made him turn his head to face her and forget the rest of the world. She gazed into his soft brown eyes and then down at his lips, loving how adorable and gentle he looked.

“So… Girlfriend, huh?” She smirked.

“Yeah.”

She grinned wildly and leaned in to kiss him. His lips were soft, warm, and so full of love. It was something she’s never experienced it before – sure, her past boyfriends were great kissers, but they were nothing compared to how Tony’s made her feel.

When they pulled away, Tony had this befuddled look on his face. “I’m confused. Was that a yes?”

She chuckled and nodded. “Yes, Tony. It’s a yes.”

“Oh, thank god.” He smiled widely. “I feel like we’re married now.” His face dropped as his words ran through his head. “Still very terrible at this, please don’t take half of what I say seriously.”

She laughed and kissed him again.

\--

“ _Now_ , I hear wedding bells.” Maya joked. Both of them were in bed with the lights off. Pepper got back pretty late that night and practically dove under the sheets for warmth. She slept with a pair of sweats and a large sweatshirt, which might have been Tony’s. She wasn’t exactly sure.

“What about you and Aldrich? Pretty sure I hear some kind of bells there.”

Maya rolled her eyes. “Oh god, don’t make me think about him.”

“Why? He seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah, until you stop talking about bio-chemistry and genetically engineered mutations.” Maya sighed to herself and brought her hands behind her head. “After that… he’s just…” She pressed her lips together. “…Not my type.”

“You should at least go on a date with him.” Pepper suggested.

“You go on a date with him.”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“Well, he’s been asking about you.” It didn’t sound like jealousy.

“I’ve only met him once.” Pepper paused. “One date, and after that, you can make a decision.”

“Mm, I’m taken.” Maya rolled over.

“What?” Pepper shrieked. “By who?”

“Biology and my work.” Maya smirked to herself. She heard Pepper groan and could already see her rolling her eyes.

\--

“Wow, look at you.” Rhodey smiled widely as he teased his best friend. “Grown up and everything.”

Tony chuckled and nudged Rhodey in the arm. “Shut up.”

“So, when do I get to meet her?”

“And embarrass the shit out of me? Hell no.” Tony ate some peanuts from the bowl in front of him, while Rhodey took a swig of beer from the bottle.

“I won’t embarrass you.” Rhodey smirked. “I mean, I’ll tell her about time you walked into the wrong class for two weeks, aced the test, and didn’t know you were in the wrong class until the professor asked who you were.”

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose. “I thought I told you to stop talking about that?”

“Oh, and then there was that time you went skinny dipping in your neighbor’s pool, scared the shit out of the housekeeper, got chased over the fence, and finally scared the living shit out of your mother when you jumped out from the bushes while she was watering the plants.” Rhodey laughed.

Tony shook his head. “I should’ve never told you that.”

“But, you know.” Rhodey shrugged. “I’ll only tell her a few things.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. “You are never meeting her.” Tony took his beer bottle and took a sip.

\--

“Again?” Tony asked as he peered outside the hall windows. Pepper was beside him, holding his hand, when she saw the disaster outside. They had just gotten lunch at the cafeteria when thunder and lightning started to boom outside. It was a Wednesday, and Pepper and Tony were on their way to the library to study, but, again, were stopped by the raging storm outside.

“How long is this supposed to last?” Pepper asked, looking up at the sky and seeing nothing but dark grey clouds.

He checked his phone and sighed. “Apparently it’s supposed to last until tomorrow afternoon.”

“What?” Pepper gasped.

“Yeah…” He clicked off his phone and turned to her. “Feel like making a run for it?”

“We should go to my place and study, and you should stay over.”

Tony smirked. “Don’t like the thunder?”

She nudged him in the ribs. “I don’t want you driving in this weather.” And then she began to mumble, “And thunder isn’t that scary…” A second later, almost as if on cue, a clap of thunder boomed, and she squeezed Tony’s hand as hard as she could.

“What were you saying?” Tony smirked knowingly. She rolled her eyes, and shoved him out the door and into the rain.

When they finally got to Pepper’s dormitory, Maya was there in her pajamas. Maya’s professors canceled class that day due to the weather, so she decided to stay in the room and binge on ‘Forensic Files’. When she saw Tony pass through the door, she grinned.

“Hello you two. Coming in to cuddle and escape from this beautiful weather?”

Tony smiled; cuddling didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“We actually came to study.” Pepper corrected her.

“But cuddling does sound good.” Tony commented, dropping his messenger back at the foot of Pepper’s bed and wrapping his arm behind Pepper.

“If you need me to leave, just say so. Melinda, Nat, and I need to finish our Korean drama anyways.” Maya said to the couple as she watched them gather at Pepper’s desk.

Pepper rolled her eyes. “Why do you always think we’re here to have sex?”

Maya put up her hands in defense. “Hey, I’m just being polite.” Tony laughed and pulled up a chair next to Pepper’s. He sat down beside her and gently ran his hand along her backside while she took her physics book and notepad out of her bag. When she finally settled into a comfortable studying position, he pressed a light and soft kiss to her cheek, and she returned a wide grin.

There were little affectionate things Tony did to make her heart swell and her insides warm up; in short, she loved every single bit of it. She learned from her previous relationships that she hated having a clingy boyfriend, but with Tony, it was more affectionate and loving than clingy. There was a certain charm he added into every kiss, touch, and look, and she couldn’t quite explain why she wasn’t sick of it.

During their study session, Tony kept kissing her, leaning in closely and rubbing her back, and giving her half hugs. Other than the warmth he gave off, it felt like he was protecting her and checking up on her, making sure she was okay. The warmth of his body, and his arms wrapped around her warmed her heart and made her feel safe.

Maya occasionally glanced at them, and every single time she would see them being cute and close, and it made her smile. There was one night when Pepper opened up to Maya about her past, and what she told her was devastating. Pepper deserved every ounce of happiness and Maya hoped Tony was the right person to give it to her.

A couple hours passed and Pepper glanced at the clock.

“Oh god, it’s almost five.” She gasped and closed her book.

He raised his eyebrows and turned his head to look at the clock. “Mm, I should go, too.” He pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. She kissed him briefly and opened her backpack to fill it with her notebook.

“When will you be back?” She asked.

“Probably at eight. Shouldn’t be past nine. Professor wants me to start working on lesson plans of my own. He’s taking a few personal holidays this semester and plans to have me teach.” He smiled widely.

“Aw, that’s great, Tony.” She felt his hands run up and down her spine.

He began to ponder. “Yeah. Hopefully I’m not too terrible and end up going off on a tangent about advanced robotics.”

“You mean like when you did that a couple weeks ago, on our date?” She deadpanned.

He frowned. “I was nervous.”

She chuckled and kissed him. “I’ll be here when you get back.”

They went their separate ways, Pepper to her class and Tony to his shared office with Professor Fredrickson. A few hours passed until Maya heard a knock on the door; she paused the TV and hopped off her bed to answer the door. When she opened it, she saw Tony standing there with the shoulders of his sweatshirt wet. His messenger bag was soaked and his hair was a little wet, almost dripping. The storm hadn’t slowed down.

“Hey.” Tony said, walking in when Maya gestured for him to enter.

“Hey. Pepper hasn’t come back yet.” She informed him.

“Yeah…” He dropped his bag at the foot of her desk, and took off his sweatshirt and hung it on the hanger of the door. “She texted me saying she’s staying back to work on a group project for a little bit.”

“Oh.” Maya hopped back on her bed and saw him ruffle his hair. She winced when she saw droplets of water fall everywhere. She turned to resume her television show and hopped back onto her bed.

Tony’s attention was now on the TV. “Whatcha watching?” He asked, pulling up Pepper’s chair to watch alongside her.

“Splurging on _Forensic Files_.” She replied. “It’s _all_ I’ve been watching.”

Tony suddenly became as fixated as she was; the show was hypnotic and addictive to him, and he watched every single minute, up until an hour and a half later when the doorknob turned. He turned his head and saw Pepper walk through. She was covered in head to toe with two to three layers; she wore wool gloves, a long sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, and a jacket, jeans, and boots. Her umbrella was dripping and her clothes looked damp, if not soaked.

“Hey,” She greeted Tony with a shaky breath, trying to warm herself up next to the heater as she shook out her umbrella at the front door.

“Pep, you’re—“

“Soaked?” Pepper smirked. “Yeah, it got worse outside… right as I walked out of the building, too.”

Tony frowned and came over to help her. “Here, let me get that.” He said, taking the umbrella from her hands and shaking it out at the doorway before leaving it in the corner.

Pepper dropped her damp backpack and shivered. “Is the heater on?”

“It should be.” Maya said flatly with her eyes still glued to the TV.

Pepper turned to Tony. “Is she watching—“

“—Forensic Files? Yeah.”

“She tends to binge on TV shows.”

“Shhh!” Maya shushed them, waving her hand in irritation.

Tony smirked and turned to Pepper, cautiously wrapping his arm around her. “Are you okay?” He could feel how damp her clothes were.

“Yeah.” She replied softly. “Just wet.” She could’ve sworn she heard Maya chuckle. “I just want to get out of these clothes right now.” She shrugged out of her jacket and her sweatshirt, and began to take her shirt off.

Tony widened his eyes and began to blush as she handed him her shirt. She moved down to unbutton her pants but stopped abruptly when the thought finally crossed her mind. Tony had never seen her naked before—or even half naked. When she looked up at him, he instantly turned away and apologized, as if he was sorry for staring for as long as he did.

He didn’t know what to do or say, so he continued to stand there and look away. Pepper hastily took her shirt from him and covered herself with it, trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of damp clothes against her skin.

“Could you—“

“—Yeah.” Tony nodded and turned around.

“Oh c’mon you two.” Maya was watching from the side. “You guys are in a relationship. I mean you’ll see each other naked eventually. Might as well get it over with now.”

Tony was blocking her view of Maya, so Pepper had to tilt her head to the side to see her. She narrowed her eyes at her. “Not while you’re here.”

“Oh, you want me to leave?” Maya asked with a smirk.

“No—“ Pepper gave out an exasperated sigh, one that made Tony smile.

“Just say the word and I’ll be out of here faster than you two can strip.” Maya turned back to the TV. Pepper rolled her eyes and continued to undo the buttons on her pants. Tony rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet and tried to occupy himself by looking around the room. He heard the zipper of her pants and then the opening of her closet door. His eyes fixated on a pen on top of Pepper’s desk and tried to go through all of the schematics he had drawn in his mind.

It was a couple minutes later when Pepper gave him the ‘okay’. He cautiously turned around and saw her shivering in a pair of sweats and a blue t-shirt.

“Still cold?” He asked, moving closer to her.

She rubbed her hands along her arms and weakly smiled. “Just a bit.”

He tried not to frown, but the look on her face made his heart break. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. Her skin was damp to the touch, but her clothes were dry and warm. Her hair was damp as well, but that didn’t bother him. She unwrapped her hands and gently leaned into him. Her hands found the warmth of his body and clutched his t-shirt, pulling him in close. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm, hopping to warm her up at little bit more.

They were both enjoying the quiet and close moment, until Maya cleared her throat.

“Ahem.” They both heard Maya. Pepper mentally groaned. When she turned her head to look at Maya, she was smiling widely. “Do you guys need a moment?”

Pepper glared at her. The one time she and Tony manage to have a quiet, comforting, and intimate moment to themselves…

“Like I said, if you want me to leave…” Maya gave them a small shrug.

Tony still held her. “Want to wear my jacket?”

She shook her head. “I think I still have your sweatshirt in my closet.”

“Ah, so that’s where my sweatshirt went.” He teased as she pulled herself away from him.

“You left it here.” She retorted. She reached into her closet, and pulled his sweatshirt over her head and pulled it down. Tony felt warmth spread over him as he took a good look at her in his sweatshirt; it was way too big for her, but she looked absolutely adorable in it. It was a normal dark red pullover hoodie with two yellow colored drawstrings.

He grinned wildly at the sight; something about her wearing his clothes made him that more attracted to her. “And I take it I won’t be getting it back anytime soon.”

She chuckled and grabbed her book and binder out of her backpack. “You’ll have to take it off me if you want it back.”

“Oh dear lord, you two.” Maya groaned loudly from her bed.

Pepper began to blush, as did Tony, but he had the widest smile on his face. Maya noticed something about them; they weren’t uncomfortable with each other’s small teases and quiet moments. It was all very… adorable. She couldn’t exactly think of the word, but she was more than happy with their relationship.

The night was fairly silent. Tony helped Pepper with her homework while Maya continued to binge on _Forensic Files_. There were a few moments when Tony would gently run his hand up and down Pepper’s back, making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes Maya would hear their cute whispers of affection to each other and, in turn, she’d mumble to herself, something about texting Nat if she wanted to watch Korean dramas.

Tony slipped off his shoes and changed into a pair of shorts, and laid down on Pepper’s bed when Pepper moved on to other homework. He was going through a notebook of his, probably his lesson plans for next month when he needs to take over the class, until he eventually dozed off. Pepper did a double take when she saw that he was fast asleep with his notebook on his chest. She smiled widely and slipped the notebook away. When she turned to look at Maya, she was fast asleep as well. Her show was paused but the television was still on. She was tucked underneath her sheets with her arms resting above her head.

Pepper turned off the television, turned off all the nights and pulled Tony’s hoodie off. She hung the hoodie and slipped into bed with Tony. He reacted almost immediately to her; in his sleep, he leaned into her and wrapped his arms around her. He held her close and turned his head to rest next to hers. He snored softly against her ear as he hugged her against his body and tangled his legs with hers. She smiled widely as she felt his hands rest on her stomach.

It was the first time in a long time when she finally felt happy in a relationship. She finally felt like she’d be able to move on.

\--

“You were so cute.” Pepper teased Tony as they walked from the Physics class. She squeezed his hand when he began to blush. “Head all the way back, drool coming out of the corner of your mouth, hair sticking out to the side—“

“Not everyone wakes up perfect, Miss I-talk-in-my-sleep.” He teased back.

“What!?” She exclaimed. “Again?” He smirked. “What’d I say?” He shrugged and kept walking. “Tony—Tony Stark! What did I say!?” He laughed and affectionately squeezed her hand. “Why won’t you tell me?”

“Oh, nothing.” He teased.

She glared at him. “Is it so embarrassing that you two don’t want to tell me?”

“Don’t worry, regardless of what you said, I’d still date you.” He kissed her cheek.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Okay, now I’m really worried.”

When they got to her dorm room, Pepper turned on the television to see what was on. While she was on her bed, watching whatever movie was currently playing, Tony sat at her desk, still working on his lesson plans. She asked in the morning why he kept writing and erasing things in his notebook. He told her he was nervous; he didn’t want things to go badly on his first time teaching the class. She promptly gave him a reassuring kiss and told him, with a wide grin, that he’d do just fine.

She heard the sounds of rapid erasing and then scribbling. When she turned her head to see what he was doing, his face was practically in his notebook. He looked worried, maybe even a little stressed.

“Tony,” She called when she noticed how square his shoulders were. He didn’t stop thinking and writing. She reached over and scratched the back of his head. He flinched on contact and slowly relaxed under her hand.

“What are you doing?” He asked, not wanting her to stop.

“You’re not going to screw anything up, Tony. You’re going to do great.” She tried to reassure him.

Tony could hear his father’s harsh words in the back of his mind, telling him how much of a failure he’d be as a teacher and how Stark Industries was his only future. “Mmm…” she heard him hum in little acknowledgement.

“They’re going to love you more than Professor Fredrickson.”

He blinked back the bad thoughts and turned his head to look at her. Her comforting and reassuring smile warmed his heart up and soon, a smile found its way to his lips. He always found her grounding him and being there for him. She always pulled him back to reality and away from any bad thoughts that might still be lingering. He always found her comforting to be around.

He leaned into her hand as her fingers lovingly scratched and massaged his scalp. “Thank you, Pepper.” He saw the sweet and sincere smile on her face and nearly melted on the spot.

He closed his notebook and quietly made his way to her. She scooted over to the other side of the bed and he climbed in next to her. He draped an arm over her middle and ran one underneath her back. He held her and buried his face against her shoulder. He relaxed with a small groan when her hand continued to scratch his scalp and play with his hair.

He loved her so much; all the support she’s given him, and all of the love and attention she’s praised him with… he couldn’t ask for a better girlfriend. There were nights when he’d watch her sleep; he’d map out every single freckle on her cheek, the softness of her skin, her relaxed and content expression, and her soft light pink lips. He couldn’t believe how lucky he’d been to have someone like her.

His emotions poured out in the form of a soft and gentle kiss. She smiled and wrapped her arms around his head, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. He pulled her flush against his body and slipped his leg between hers. Between the kisses and the feeling of his hands tracing the curves of her body, she didn’t notice the slight movements in his hips, the grinding of his crotch against her thigh. It took a few seconds for her to notice the poking of his slight hard-on in his jeans to realize what was happening.

The heat of passion and the clouds in her head didn’t tell her that she didn’t want it. They told her it was okay; they told her to keep going, because deep down, she wanted it. She’s wanted it for a long time, but didn’t want to pry or ask him about it. She was convinced that when the time was right, things would happen. Even in her previous relationships, she believed that timing and the right moment was everything.

“Tony,” She moaned quietly when she felt his lips hot against her neck. He was gentle and polite; he didn’t go too rough or force her into an exact position. He was relaxed and so fluid with his ministrations. It all felt like he’s done it one too many times—she never really asked him about his previous relationships—actually, they had never discussed the topic of exes. She didn’t know, at that point, if that was a good thing or bad thing, but all of that nonsense was furthest from her mind when he moved to hover over her.

He moved down her neck, continuing to press light kisses against her soft, creamy skin. Her hips moved against him and her crotch brushed up against his leg that rest between hers. Her hands rubbed circles into his sides, encouraging him to continue, and soon, midst the flurry of kisses and slow grinding, her hands were pulling at his shirt, bunching the hem up and sliding it up his middle. His hands did the same; they brushed against her creamy skin, just above her jeans, and slowly pulled at her shirt.

Her arms wrapped around him with he began to nip at her neck. She moaned lowly and buried her face in his shoulder. She hugged him to her body as they began to move together, grinding for pleasure and wishing for things to go a little bit faster.

Pepper took the initiative and tugged at his jeans, then his belt, and then at the buckle. He didn’t notice until he felt a tug on the zipper. He stopped, almost immediately, and pulled away from her. Her eyelids slowly slipped open, and she saw his face, full of questions and concerns. He looked hesitant… maybe even a little scared.

“Pepper…” He murmured. “…Are you…” He paused when her hand reached up to cup his cheek. The gesture was so sincere and gentle; he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “…Are you sure you want this?”

She was somewhat surprised he was asking. Her ex never really asked her. He only assumed that, in the throes of passion, she wanted it; he, of course, would stop if she asked him to.

“Why are you asking?” Pepper asked softly.

“Because…” He dipped his head low. “I don’t want you to regret anything… any of this… I don’t want you to feel pressured into it. Just tell me and I’ll stop.”

She grinned wildly. The thought and sincerity of his words warmed her heart. He was being such a gentleman. “Tony,” She began to stroke his cheek with her thumb, and stared into his big, warm, and soft brown eyes. “I want this.”

He’s eyes watched hers. “Really?”

“Yes,” She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, and buried her nose into his neck. “Yes, Tony.” She repeated.

He buried his head in her neck and closed his eyes. Tears of joy nearly escaped as the feeling of affection washed over him. There had been times in his life when he thought he’d never find someone like her; someone that could love him, trust him, and care for him, but now, here she was, tangled in him, holding him, and kissing him.

Everything was slow and steady; neither of them rushed into it, despite their harsh appetites for nothing but raw sex.

Pepper unbuckled his belt and unzipped his pants. She tried to slide them down with the insides of her legs. Tony did what he could to take off her pants, but for some reason, the zipper wouldn’t budge. He heard her start to laugh when he sat there for a few seconds to tug on it. No matter what he did, it wouldn’t move.

“Maybe this is a sign.” He half-joked.

“As if.” She undid her belt and forcefully crawled out of her pants. No zipper was going to keep her from having sex with him. He had the widest grin on his face, and then Pepper flipped their positions. He laid down on her bed while she straddled his legs, trying to tug off his pants. She got them down to his knees, and then he tried to do the rest. He tried wiggling out of his pants, but his foot got caught in the middle. His socks were in the way, and it looked like he was missing one leg.

Pepper tried not to laugh as Tony tried to worm his way out. He shook his legs as much as he could until he was very close to propelling her off the bed.

That’s when Pepper sat on his thighs and started chuckling. She leaned into his chest to cover her face and he laughed with her. He hugged her to his body and kissed her shoulder.

“It’s not the end of the world, right?” He asked her.

She shook her head as she tried to stop laughing. “I’m sorry.”

“No, no.” He smiled. “This is good. Laughing is good.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He breathed; he didn’t know he was grinding into her until she began to react to it and grind back into him. Her smile faded when she realized how close she was to him, and where she was on top of him. She slowly leaned in and pressed her lips against his. Their tongues danced as they continued to rock into each other.

The passion returned and after many kisses later, he flipped them over. As he pressed himself between her legs, he did his best to shake his pants completely off, and after various attempts, he finally got them off and onto the floor in the middle of the room.

Pepper helped him pull off his shirt, and then Tony helped her pull off hers. At one point, her head got stuck, but after another bout of chuckling and unsuccessful tugs, he pulled away to help her. He threw the shirt in the general area where his pants were and continued to flower her with kisses.

He reached behind her and unclasped her bra, and with a tug, her chest was exposed. He took a couple seconds to admire her body, her curves, and the freckles that littered every inch of her skin.

While her body mesmerized him, she pushed him forward and onto his butt. He watched her fingers slip into the waistband of his boxer briefs and pulled them down. She slipped them off and threw them somewhere near her closet. Tony brought her closer and kissed her. Pepper leaned into him and took him into her hand. He moaned into her mouth as he felt her give his erection a few tugs.

“Hold on,” he muttered. “I think I have lotion in my bag.” He told her as he began to roll to the side to grab his bag that sat at the ends of her bed. She held onto his hips to stop him, and when he turned to look at her, all he could do was watch as she lowered her head. “Holy fuck,” he breathed, just before he felt her mouth around his cock.

Tony threw his head back and stared up at the ceiling; he couldn’t believe she was giving him a blowjob. His mind raced and his heart pounded in his chest as he felt her bob up and down. She sucked at his shaft, and pumped up and down as she sucked at the head. He nearly whimpered when he felt her tongue tease the slit.

“Pepper…” He moaned as quietly as he could. He had to remind himself that they were in her dorm room.

She pulled away and tugged at his erection, pumping up and down, slow and then fast, and then slow again. She gave it a few slow rough tugs, and then picked up the pace. What he didn’t anticipate was her thumb brushing against the slit, teasing it, and then sliding back down the shaft. He threw his head back in pleasure and began to wonder where she learned _that_. He figured, from Maya’s words, that it was from past boyfriends.

He drew in a sharp gasp when he felt her roll his balls between her fingers, squeezing it and nibbling it. “Fuck, Pepper.” He groaned.

Pepper smiled as she ran a tongue up the underside of his hard member. Tony felt a tingle shoot up his spine just then and threw his head back. The moans that spilled out of his mouth made the spot between her legs moisten almost instantly.

Pepper brought a hand down between her legs to alleviate the itch, but Tony saw it. He saw her hand and the way she paused to let out a small moan. Without any warning, he pulled her away from his cock, letting it bob in the air, unattended and throbbing.

He turned their positions around and began to plant light kisses on her stomach. Every kiss moved lower and lower, and soon, Pepper found herself throwing her head back, letting out a soft whispered moan. He kissed the middle of her panties and licked at the fabric, feeling how wet she was for him.

He hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties and slowly slid them down her legs, leaving one kiss on her skin for every inch. He watched the way her body bent and the way her hands grasped the sheets beside her. It was all so magical for him; he’s seen it before, the way a woman’s body moved in the throes of pleasure, but never before had he wanted to see it so badly. He cherished the moment, how slow they were going and how memorable it was.

As he finally withdrew her panties from her tanned and beautiful freckled legs, he realized what he wanted in life. It took years for him to realize his mistakes and what he really wanted in life. Maybe it was in the heat of the moment, but his dream was no longer to be a teacher, despite his father’s wishes, or become a famous inventor on the side. He wanted her; he wanted a family, he wanted to love and be loved. He wanted her.

He smiled as the thoughts drifted through his mind. _I’m crazy. We’ve only been dating for a few months and I’m already thinking about having a family with her. She’s going to hate me._

He dipped down and ran his tongue between her folds, lapping at the moistness and teasing the sensitive flesh. Her hands flew to his head; she wasn’t pushing or pulling. She was just running her hands through his hair, massaging the spots as he continued to pleasure her with his tongue.

“Tony… Tony…” She muttered, trying to bite back the need to scream. He felt her writhe against him, almost uncontrollably. “Tony… I’m…”

He gave her one last lick against her throbbing clit before he pulled away. Her hands continued to play with his hair as he moved to hover over her. She felt his hard member rest against her pelvis and didn’t realize how much she wanted it until she found herself trying to grind against it.

Their eyes locked as they both realized where they were, and what they just did.

He kissed her; it wasn’t sloppy or careless, it was soft and gentle, something that she rarely experienced during sex.

“I love you,” He whispered as he pulled way.

She stared up at him and saw the softness of his eyes. They were beautiful, brown, and so loving. Ever since they went on their first date, it was all she saw when she closed her eyes. She didn’t know why. Maybe it was because of what _happened_ – maybe she needed softness and gentleness.

“I love you, too, Tony.” She replied with a small smile. Her thumb softly stroked his cheek, and with a wide smile on his face, he pressed his forehead against hers.

“Are you sure you want this?” He asked again, closing his eyes.

“Yes.” She muttered. “Yes.”

“If it hurts, just tell me, and I’ll stop, okay?” He gave her another kiss on the lips. He reached over and took the condom out of Pepper’s desk drawer. He quickly ripped it open and rolled it down on his hard member.

She nodded and felt him guide his member to her folds. The head brushed up and down her folds, parting them and spreading the wetness. He pushed in slowly and kept an eye on her, making sure she wasn’t in pain.

Her mouth parted as he slowly inched further and further. He gasped sharply as he pushed in again.

“Oh god,” He breathed. “You’re so tight, Honey.”

She chuckled. “We’re going with pet names now?” He tried not to laugh.

He stopped abruptly when he saw a flash of pain on her face. “Pep, are you okay?” She held onto him. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No…” She shook her head. “…No, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded; he began to slowly push in again, and with a small drawn out moan, he pulled back out and pushed back in again.

“Oooohhh, Tony…” She moaned lowly. “You’re so big.”

He kissed her neck, and continued to carefully thrust in and out of her. She desperately hugged him to her body, massaging tiny circles into his hips and kissing his shoulder.

“Oh shit!” He said a bit too loud.

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows when she felt him lay still. “Tony?” He didn’t answer. “Tony… did you just—“

“—No.” He managed to say. “Close, but no… Ah… Just… Uh… Try not to move for a little bit.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry.” He muttered. “I’m… I haven’t done this in a long time...”

She chuckled. “Neither have I.” She replied, trying to make him feel better.

He began to thrust in and out of her again, but slower that the first time. He kissed her collar bone and moved down to her breasts. He licked at the mounds and sucked at her hard pink nipples. She moaned against him and chanted his name. In retaliation, every time he pulled out, she constricted her walls, and each time, the pleasure for him increased tenfold.

“Holy fuck, Pepper.” He moaned softly and tried to cover the need to alert her neighbors with loud groaning by nibbling the soft skin of her shoulder.

She laughed as she finally adjusted to his length and girth. She turned them around, switching their positions, and straddled him. She rode him slowly albeit a little roughly. As the need for pleasure grew and grew, so did the pace. She quickened her hips as he massaged her breasts with his hands. He ground his hips against her and without warning, she gasped, stilled, and convulsed in ecstasy.

He watched her bite back the need to moan and groan, and saw her slowly come down from her high.

“Did you just…?” He didn’t sound mad.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized quickly. “I didn’t—I…” She began to move again.

“Pep, stop.” He held her by her waist. “It’s okay. It’s fine.”

“I can go again.”

He smiled. “It’s fine. I can… uh… I can do it myself.” He watched her cover her face in shame.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have…” She felt his arms wrap around her and pull her against his chest.

“Pep, it’s okay. It’s just the first time. Sex isn’t always perfect anyways.” He gently pulled her hands away from her face and saw the shame on her face. “I’m not mad, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“I’m sorry.” She apologized again.

“Stop apologizing, Baby.” He replied softly and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Sex isn’t the reason why I love you, you know.”

She flashed a weak, yet apologetic, smile. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

He chuckled and teased her, “Yeah, you better. I expect an A on that second midterm next week.”

She laughed and buried her face against his neck. “We’re in the middle of sex and you bring that up? Kind of a mood killer, don’t you think?”

“I’ll tell you what,” He smirked. “You ace that test and I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.”

She pulled away and eyed him. “Anything?”

“Anything.” He grinned. “Doesn’t even have to be sex related.”

She bit her bottom lip. “Okay. Deal.” She pushed against his chest and eyed him sexily, watching him slowly fall back onto her bed. She rode him the rest of the way there, rotating her hips and making sure he was feeling all of the pleasure she had to give.

She rocked back and forth, constricting her walls and relaxing them. All of it made him go wild; he clutched at the sheets beside him and eventually had to hold onto her hips. He drove her at the last minute, grinding her hips against his in an effort to finally climax. In a powerful and muffled shout, he came. He threw his head back and let out a stifled moan.

She continued to ride him and milk him for all that he had to give.

“Holy fuck!” He shouted a little too loudly.

Her hips stopped moving when his hands fell off her hips and rest on her thighs. He panted as he laid there, absolutely spent and glistening with sweat. She slipped off of him, and collapsed on her side with a thud and a slight giggle.

He smiled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders to bring her closer. She slipped her leg between his and cautiously positioned it between his thighs; she draped her arm on his stomach and traced small circles into his side.

“Wow…” He said with wide eyes.

She laughed. “That good, huh?”

“Well… I… I didn’t expect _that_.”

She smiled once last time before closing her eyes; they were both spent and tired, and neither of them wanted to move. When her fingers slowed to a halt, his did not; he continued to rub his hand up and down her shoulder, and every now and then, he’d glance down at her and admire her beauty. It was when the realization hit him – she was his. Her freckles, her ocean blue eyes, the way her nose wrinkled when she was displeased with something, and the way her hands shook when she was nervous… everything about her was his to indulge, and he wouldn’t want it any other way.

They cuddled for the remainder of their time together; they stayed wrapped in each other’s arms with nothing but a blanket covering half of their bodies. Sleep eventually took over until Tony’s watch started beeping a couple hours later.

“Do you have to go?” Pepper asked sleepily against his chest.

He rubbed his eyes and smiled. “Unfortunately. The professor is going to have a cow if I don’t show up on time.” He poked her in the ribs, making her smile and squeal. “And _you_ need to go to class.”

“I can skip it.”

“What?” He gasped. “Did I just hear the famous always-on-time Pepper Potts say she was going to skip class?”

“I’m not always on time.” She retorted and looked up at him.

“But you’ve never wanted to skip class before. If anything, your number one priority is class and studying.”

“Hey,” She moved off of him and teased him by straddling his waist. “Just because I study a lot and like my classes doesn’t mean I can _never_ want to skip class.”

He eyed her naked body up and down, and nearly wanted to roll her over for another round. “Okay.”

“I mean, I could just skip physics if I wanted to prove my point.” She traced a teasing circle on the lower part of his stomach. He, on the other hand, could feel his penis awaken with an exclamation point above its head.

“I won’t allow that.” He smirked.

“Really?” She bent over to hover above his lips.

“Yes, really.” He smiled and kissed her softly. He rolled them over so he was the one on top and continued to kiss her. His lips moved to the corner of her mouth, to her cheeks, and then to her neck. The slight moan that escaped her lips is what pulled him away.

He sat at the edge of her bed, grabbed his briefs off her closet doorknob, and slipped them on. When he did, he felt an arm drape over his shoulders; she kissed his shoulder and then the back of his neck, and then his cheek.

Tony smiled warmly and sighed. “You’re not making this easy, Babe.”

“Then stay.” She said softly and with slight plea.

He turned his head to kiss her. “You know I can’t.”

She groaned inwardly and hugged him. He could feel her breasts press against his bare back. They were warm and were tempting him to lay back down with her, and hold her for a couple hours longer, but work called him, and he could no longer ignore it, else he’d never want to leave her bedroom. He didn’t, though.

“Fine.” She huffed and teased. She collapsed back down onto her bed and snuggled underneath the blanket. Tony frowned and looked over at her; he felt bad. It felt like he was pulling one night stand… like the many he had a few years ago. _She’s anything but a one night stand,_ he told himself.

He grabbed his t-shirt off the floor and pulled it over his head, and then he put his pants on. He buckled his belt and sat back down on the side of her bed.

“Pep, you know I don’t want to leave.” He sounded apologetic.

“I’m not stopping you.” She said casually, trying to seem like she wasn’t mad.

“I’m not leaving you.” He said.

“I know.”

“So, the guilt trip…?” He smirked.

She tapped his butt with her foot. “What guilt trip?”

He leaned over and kissed her softly, almost as if it was his way of apologizing. She wrapped her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss, but he had to pull away. “I really am sorry, Pepper. I really want to stay.”  

“No, it’s fine.” She hugged him. “It was kind of spontaneous anyways. Maybe next time, we can do this at a _better_ time.”

He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, so… I was good enough to get a ‘next time’?” He smirked.

She shrugged. “Maybe. Depends, actually… depends if you don’t ‘dine and ditch’.”

He chuckled at her cleverly worded response and kissed her. “I’m sorry.”

She reached up to cup his cheek and stroked it with her thumb, enjoying the silent and affectionate moment. “I know,” she replied softly. He leaned into her hand and pressed a kiss on the inside of her palm.

\--

“You two had sex, didn’t you?” Maya narrowed her eyes at Natasha. Natasha spit out the water she was drinking from her bottle and began to cough.

“Excuse me?” Nat gasped.

“You and Clint.” Maya smirked slyly. “It’s so obvious.”

“We went on a date last night and kissed. There was no sex.” Nat tried to tell her.

“Uh-huh.” Melinda muttered as she munched on the fries on the plate in front of her.

Pepper joined the three and placed her plate of chicken nuggets and fries on the table.

“Well, someone had sex.” Maya crunched on an apple slice. “My senses are tingling.”

Pepper almost lost her footing on the bench and almost fell over, but she caught herself. “I’m fine.” She told them as she sat down.

“Speaking of sex,” Maya looked at Pepper, and then everyone else did.

Pepper began to munch on her nuggets until she noticed the defining silence. She looked at her friends and then furrowed her eyebrows. “Get your own nuggets.”

“Pepper, how long have you and Tony been together?” Maya said with slight curiosity in her tone, as if she was fishing for something.

“Uh, almost a couple months.”

“That long and you two haven’t done anything yet?” Melinda asked.

“Well, there is that one time I caught them making out. She was pretty much on top of him.” Maya grinned wildly.

“Maya!” Pepper angrily scolded her.

“What?” She laughed. Pepper rolled her eyes at her and continued to eat.

“How is he?” Nat asked. “Cause, you know, if he’s being a dick to you, we can always cut it off.”

Pepper stared at her; her expression was flat and serious. “Frank as ever, Nat.”

“May would agree with me, right?”

Melinda looked at Natasha and shrugged. “Only with Pepper’s consent.”

Pepper rolled her eyes at both of them. “You two are impossible, but very good friends.” Both of them smiled.

“Hey, Tony,” Maya greeted him as he walked up to their table.

“Hello ladies.” He joined them and sat down next to Pepper. He put his bag down at his feet and wrapped his arm around Pepper. “Hi, Honey.”

“Honey? Still?” Pepper rolled her eyes at him as he kissed her cheek.

“ _Still_ don’t like it?” He frowned cutely.

Maya, Melinda, and Nat all watched the cute banter unfold between the couple.

“It feels weird…”

He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “That’s not what you said the other day.” Pepper almost immediately smacked him in the chest. He winced and began to laugh. “You’re so cute when you’re angry at me.” Her eyes rolled as he rubbed her back, silently apologizing.

“Mm.” She hummed, trying not to pay attention to him. Her hand dropped at his thigh, squeezing it lightly. He kissed her cheek again and began to steal some of her food.

“So, Tony, how is everything?” Maya asked. “Pepper tells me you’re going to teach the class next month.”

“Yeah, after the second midterm is over.” He replied, feeling Pepper smack his hand when he tried to reach for another fry. He frowned cutely at her and stole one anyways.

“Still got to study for that.” Pepper reminded him.

“We have a week. I’m sure we’ll cover everything, and I’m _very_ sure you’ll do fine.” He told her.

Melinda and Nat both smiled. They thought it was cute, the way Tony talked to her and treated her. It was interesting, but at the same time refreshing and relaxing.

“Nat, I heard you were dating Clint.” Tony mentioned.

Nat slowly glared at Maya. “Let me guess who told you…”

“I’ve known him for a little bit. Talked to him a few times. He’s a good guy.”

Pepper squeezed his thigh again. “What time is it?”

Maya looked down at her watch. “Almost two.”

“Oh god. We should get back.” Pepper quickly grabbed her bag and plate.

“Hey, I wasn’t finished.” Tony frowned at her plate of food as he grabbed his things, as well.

“Don’t worry, I’ll bring the plate with me.” She reassured him. “You know, for a man that eats a lot of food, you sure are fussy.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean…” He whined.

They left to retreat to the room to study. As they left, they waved to Melinda, May, and Nat. The three of them continued to eat their lunch.

“Yeah, they totally had sex.” Melinda commented casually.

\--

“Oh god, yes!” Tony whispered into her bare chest as he thrust into her one last time. He stilled and felt his penis throb. Pepper’s arms wrapped around him as she came as well. Her nails raked against his back from the explosive and violent orgasm he gave her. He moaned quietly as his hard cock spurt once, twice, and then once more.

“Oh, Pepper…” Tony moaned as he rest against her, struggling to catch his breath.

She held onto him as she felt his lips pressed small kisses on her collar. “Tony…” She muttered happily.

He lifted his head up and smiled as he kissed her on the lips. It was hard and brief, no thanks to the lack of oxygen he currently had. They both panted as their climactic highs ended. With a small whimper, Tony pulled out. Pepper slowly, and sensually, pulled off the condom and tossed it in the wastebasket near her bed. He wasn’t sure if it was the sexual high he was still riding on or the fact that her pulling off the condom was fucking hot, but he almost asked her if she wanted to go another round.

“This…” She spoke briefly, as they rolled to the side to cuddle. “…This is not studying.”

“No.” He laughed. “No, it’s not.” He hugged her and kissed her. “You’re not complaining, are you?”

She buried her cheek into his chest and smiled delightfully. “Never.”

“If we keep having these types of ‘study sessions’, you might actually miss some questions on the test.” He teased her.

“As if.” She smirked. “I’m still holding you to that bet.”

He laughed at the remembrance. “Want to give me a clue what you’ll do to me if you win it?”

She grinned mischievously and straddled his waist. He stared up at her, mesmerized by her beautiful naked body. She gyrated her hips a bit to tease him, but only for a moment. “Not really.”

He held her at her waist and groaned inwardly. “You’re going to be the death of me, Babe.”

She laughed, just before she bent over and gave him a soft, loving kiss.

\--

[Friday; Next week is the second round of exams before finals]

“I can’t believe she’s giving us a second exam.” Matt sighed into his Spanish book.

Pepper smirked as she turned the page in her notebook, as well as the Spanish book in front of her. “Second exams are common.”

“I know…” He frowned. “…Just wish it was one exam and one final. Would be easier for us.”

“Spanish class isn’t that bad.”

He looked over at her. “For you…”

“What?” Pepper smirked.

“Not all of our grandparents were fluent in Spanish.” He chuckled.

“I’m sure if my grandma were here, she’d whip you into shape. She would let you leave until you could translate an English essay into Spanish.” Pepper laughed.

“Hell, at this point, I think I need that.” He laughed with her. His expression changed when he remembered something. “Oh, hey, you’re still dating that one guy, right?”

“Tony?” Pepper raised her eyebrow.

“Yeah, him.” Matt reached into his backpack and pulled out his binder. “I was cleaning my room yesterday and found this. I knew that guy looked familiar from somewhere. I remember seeing these three years ago.” He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Pepper.

What she didn’t expect was the advertisement on the paper. She stared at it; her heart stopped and her eyes went wide. On the paper, it read: ‘Tony Stark; Need a quick get-a-way? I have just what you need!’ and in the center was Tony’s face; he was grinning with an eyebrow raised. Underneath the photo was an address to a bar. Instructions below that were in fine print that said, ‘Come to the alley. Appointments can be made through phone.’ A phone number was also attached.

“Dude was picking up chicks left and right.” Matt laughed, but soon stopped when he realized she wasn’t laughing with him. “Uh… I’m guessing… he didn’t tell you.”

Pepper’s tightening grip crumpled the side of the paper. Her heart was breaking and her blood was boiling; memories—nightmares of High School flooded her mind. She fought back the tears as she let her heart finish breaking.

“No…” She muttered solemnly. “…He did not...”

\--

Pepper had to put the piece of paper away, because she was getting distracted. She needed to help Matt study for Spanish, and that’s what she did. She had to put those personal matters in the back of her mind to study, no matter how hard it was to.

After the study session, she texted Tony, telling him she needed to talk to him. Tony thought it was nothing; he thought she needed help with physics.

He opened the door with a smile on his face, but that smile soon disappeared when he saw her. She looked angry; she looked like she was about to bite his head off.

“What the fuck is this, Tony?” Pepper asked, showing him the advertisement.

He grabbed it, not knowing what it was, but when he saw the title, he knew he was in trouble. His eyes widened and his heart stopped. He thought people forgot about it; he thought everyone moved on.

“Where… where did you get this?” He asked with a shocked and shaky voice.

“Does it matter?” She asked angrily. “I can’t believe you, Tony.”

“Pepper—“

“Have you been fucking girls on the side?”

“What!?” Tony exclaimed, staring at her. “No, I haven’t—Pepper, this was years ago. I stopped—“

“Tell me why I don’t believe you, Tony.” She practically yelled at him. “Tell me why I should even listen to what you have to say when your face makes me want to throw up.”

“Pepper…” He tried to act calm. “I would never do that to you.”

“Then why did you never tell me about this!?”

“Because I didn’t think it was something to tell you about. I thought people forgot!” And then he waited for her response amongst the brief moment of silence.

She shook her head at him and muttered, “Get out”. She couldn’t stand seeing him; she couldn’t stand his voice or his husky attractive tone. She’s been in the same situation before. She’s learned from the past and needed to put her foot down, even if it hurt, because she vowed to not make the same mistake twice. She was tired of people lying to her… she was tired of being clouded with love to see the truth, because that was the flaw of her personality. She thought she saw better – knew better – but _he_ always took her trust for granted, and she didn’t know until it was too late.

“Honey… please…” He slowly approached her. “Please… don’t do this.”

Pepper put her hand on his chest and shoved him away. “Get out!” She yelled, letting the tears escape.

“Pepper—“

“Get.” She stared at him with red puffy eyes full of hate and her voice was as hard as stone. “Out.” She stood her ground. “Now.”

Tony’s mouth was gapped, and he didn’t know what to do. He knew if he refused to leave, then she’d be angrier at him, more than she already was. His eyes were full of sadness, because while her heart was breaking, so was his. He never wanted her to learn about his past on her own; he figured she’d never catch wind of it or he’d end up telling her himself.

He knew when he had to leave, and that’s what he did. There were no more words exchanged.

When he left, she slammed the door behind him. He turned, hoping it was all just a dream, or some kind of prank, but when he heard the lock on the door turn, he knew it wasn’t.

Pepper backed up to the edge of the bed, put her face in her hands, and burst into tears. It was like High School all over again…

Tony stood at the door, staring at it, wide eyed and shocked. He held back the tears that wanted to escape, but ended up letting one slip down his cheek. He thought she was the one, the one that wouldn’t judge him or think any differently of him. In his eyes, she was pure, so full of life and love; he didn’t think it would end like it did.

\--

Maya came back hours after it happened and she knew right away that they got into a fight. Pepper’s eyes were still red and puffy; she tried to hide it, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide anything from her roommate.

They talked all night, about what happened between her and Tony, and about what led her to jump to conclusions. Pepper told her about her High School nightmare; needless to say, Maya wasn’t on a side. She didn’t side with her or Tony; she tried to keep herself neutral.

“Maya, please don’t lie to me.” Pepper spoke calmly. Maya hummed in curiosity. “Did you know about this… about Tony?”

Maya frowned. “Yes… I knew.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Pepper asked with a slight hint of anger.

“Because, Pepper…” Maya continued. “…It wasn’t my place to tell you. It was Tony’s problem and I had no right to butt in.”

Pepper shook her head. “You should’ve told me regardless…”

“Why?” Maya asked; she began to sympathize for Tony. “I should’ve told you something that happened years ago?” Silence. “Yes, I saw the flyers. Yes, I saw him around countless women, flaunting his charm, but that was only for a single year. After that, I never saw _it_ again. The flyers stopped, the women stopped – something happened, Pepper.”

“Are you siding with him?” Pepper asked, glaring up at her.

Maya frowned. “I’m not siding with anyone, Pep. I’m telling you... maybe you shouldn’t jump to conclusions so easily.”

Pepper thought about what Maya told her, but it didn’t make her go back on her choice. Tony didn’t lie to her, but he didn’t tell her, and that alone made her distrust him. In a relationship, trust meant everything, but at that point, no matter what her heart, mind, body, or soul, told her, she knew that trust was gone.

\--

It was Tuesday, the day Tony dreaded because he had to see Pepper in class. He texted her countless times since that day she broke up with him, asking her for forgiveness, asking her to talk to him, asking her to let him explain, but he never got a single text back.

Students filed in and he tried to avoid looking towards the crowd, but once class started, he had no choice but to look. His heart stopped when he realized Pepper didn’t come to class. He was confused.

 _Pepper always goes to class…_ , he thought to himself. _Maybe she’s sick._

After class ended, he decided to take a chance and go to her dorm room. Although they weren’t together anymore, he still cared about her. He didn’t care if she was pissed or wanted to bash his head in with her chair, he just wanted to make sure she was okay.

When he knocked on the door, Pepper didn’t answer. Maya did.

“Oh, Tony.” Maya greeted him with a small smile.

“Hi…” He returned the smile. “I take it you heard what happened.”

She frowned, feeling bad for him. “Yeah… Pepper told me, or rather, I could sense something was wrong from a mile away.” She tried to laugh to lighten the mood, but it was a failure.

“Pepper didn’t go to class… is she okay?”

Maya’s face fell.

“Is she here?”

She shook her head. “She flew home on Saturday.”

“And she’s not back yet?” Tony asked.

“She…” Maya was reluctant to tell him. “…She got a call from her mother Saturday morning.” She let out a regretful sigh. “Her grandmother passed away.”

Tony’s eyes widened and his heart stopped.

_“So, it’s just you and your mother?” he asked on their first half-date._

_Pepper shook her head. “And my grandmother. My dad’s side isn’t really there.”_

“Is… Is she okay?” He asked.

Maya looked sad. “She cried, a lot. I drove her to the airport, but she said she’d take a cab back.”

“When does she come back?”

“Tomorrow. She said she had two midterms on Thursday.”

Tony remembered her saying that she had a Spanish midterm on Thursday, a few hours after the Physics one. He sighed and scratched the back of his head. If Friday didn’t happen, he would be there with her, holding her on her bed, letting her cry. He’d be comforting her, telling her everything was going to be okay… but now he couldn’t. She was dealing with the loss of her grandma without him, and he felt horrible. He wanted to put his arms around her and let her cry on his shoulder. He wanted to be there for her no matter what.

After he left, he tried to call her, but she didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was busy, or if she still hated him for what happened. He called her two more times and both of them rang a few times before going to voicemail.

On the last call, he left a message.

“Hi, Pepper. It’s… It’s me.” He sighed. “Maya told me what happened… I’m… I’m sorry for your loss… and… everything else.” He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “Please talk to me… please, Pepper. At least let me explain…” He paused for a moment. “…Call me back when you get the chance, okay?” He hung up and tried to put his mind elsewhere.

Tony went back home and worked on his lesson plans. Next week, starting Tuesday, would be his first day teaching. Professor Fredrickson took next Tuesday and Thursday off; he gave some pointers to Tony and a list of material to go over. The professor was very strict when it came to lectures; he wanted Tony to cover all the bases and make sure the students were ready for the final.

It only put more pressure on him to polish his lesson plans. He went through his notebook countless times, speaking to himself, trying to convey his thoughts as fluently and smoothly as possible.

All while he did this, he kept looking at his phone, hoping Pepper would call him, but she never did.

“Maybe I need to give her a little space…” He spoke to his cat as he reached to pet him. His cat meowed, took two pets on the head, and promptly walked away. Tony took his notebook with him and followed his cat to his bedroom.

She was all he thought about throughout the night. He wondered if she was okay, if she was crying… if she missed him. He had it bad for her, and he knew it. Every single time he was around her, his heart would flutter; his eyes would almost never leave her, as he found himself mesmerized by her orange hair, her beautiful blue eyes, and glossy thin lips.

Tony checked his phone one last time before he went to bed.

No calls or messages.

\--

Pepper’s eyes were red and puffy when she got out of the cab. The weekend was brutal to her; friends and family were at the funeral, but the entire thing itself was wearing her down, emotionally and mentally. Between the fight with Tony and her grandmother’s death, as well as her upcoming midterms, she found herself in a mentally unstable state. She’d cry for hours when she tried to study for her midterms at home; she’d throw her phone across the room whenever Tony’s delighted face popped up on the screen, telling her there’s a new message for her; she’d clutch at her heart as if it were breaking, and the remembrance of the break up and her grandmother tore her apart each and every time.

When she opened the door to her dorm room, her red eyes widened.

“Tony,” She muttered.

Tony sat on her bed, waiting for her to come back; when he saw her, he gave her the same surprised look, as if he were caught being somewhere he shouldn’t be.

“Pepper,” He whispered.

Her anger boiled, and as much as she wanted to cry on his shoulder, she didn’t allow herself. “Get out…”

He ignored her. “Maya told me what happened. I came here, wondering if you were sick or something after you didn’t show up to class on Tuesday…”

“Please… Tony…” She began to cry. “Just leave…” Her emotions were pouring out all at once.

He stood up from her bed and slowly made his way towards her. “Pep…” He felt awful for not being there for her.

“Tony—“

He enveloped her in his arms and hugged her tight, not wanting to let her go. In a split second, she burst into tears; she wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight, letting the pain and agony pour out of her. For a moment, she forgot about their fight and focused on her wellbeing. She needed someone to lean on; she needed someone to comfort her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

And for a while, she allowed him to be that someone.

“It’s going to be okay, Pepper…” He stroked her hair with his hand and let her head rest against the inside of his shoulder. “Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”

She clutched at his shirt and rubbed her face against it, desperately looking for comfort, reassurance, and some glimmer of hope that things will somehow piece back together themselves, but the small kiss on the side of her head snapped her back to reality.

She pushed him away within a split second, and he doubled back in shock.

“Pepper—“

She spoke as she let the tears roll down her cheek. “…Leave.”

“I’m trying to be here for you, Pepper. I’ve lost someone I’ve loved, too, and I know how it feels—“ He tried to tell her.

Her mistake was letting her anger and sorrow talk for her. “Then you can imagine how I felt when I found about all that shit you did.”

“Pepper, I didn’t—“

“I don’t care what you did and didn’t do, Tony. It happened, and I know several people who witnessed it.”

“That was years ago!” He practically yelled, letting out his frustration. “I’ve changed, Pepper!”

“How can I trust you?!” She spat back. “How do I know you haven’t been fucking someone else all this time?”

“Are you serious?” He narrowed his eyes at her, letting out a breath of disgust.

There was silence between them, but it only lasted a few seconds.

“I’ve dated guys like you, Tony.” She gave him this sickened look, as if the sight of him made her angry. “All you want is someone to make you feel good. You don’t care who it is, and you don’t care how you get it… you just want it whenever you want it.”

“You know nothing about me.” He growled back; his stare was cold. “I changed, Pepper. I realized what path I was going down years ago and I wanted it to stop. I changed because I knew what I wanted. I wanted someone that would see me for who I was, who wouldn’t judge me based on what happened in the past—someone that loved me for who I am today and who I’m trying to become.” He eyed her up and down one last time. “I was hoping that someone was you…” He turned away and picked up his book bag off the floor. “…but, I guess I was wrong.” In a matter of speaking, he was done fighting for something he had no control over. He figured, if she couldn’t see past the mistakes he’s made, then there was no use in struggling.

Before he left, he mumbled, “I’m sorry for your loss.”

After the door closed, Pepper sat down on her bed. At first, she felt bad for judging him like that and jumping to conclusions. A part of her wanted to see past the whole entire thing, but she couldn’t. If she did, there was a slight change she’d make the same mistake she did in High School, and she knew she’d never be able to recover from something like that again, especially with Tony.

Was it wrong for her to let him go like that?

Pepper shook her head. She needed to focus on the tasks at hand, mainly her midterms. She only had a day left to study, and so that’s what she did. She buried her head in her books and tried to forget about her problems. She took a break for a few seconds every now and then, and eventually got around to hanging up a picture of her grandmother over her bed. She used it as someone to look up to and someone to ask for guidance in times of need. A tear rolled down her cheek when she remembered the last time her grandmother smiled at her; she told her she’d do just fine in college, how she’d ace every test and become the most successful in the family.

She wiped the tear away and got back to studying.

\--

Tony had a hard time not looking at her during the midterm, no matter how much he wanted to. When the students filed in, he tried to look elsewhere, and when the professor asked him to pass out the booklets, he tried not to glance at her. It was tough, but he had to stand his ground and show that he was certain of his choices.

Pepper had little problem, as her thoughts were sorely focused on the test. She used that as a distraction from her personal problems, and it worked. She finished the test with almost forty minutes to spare and used the remaining time to double check her answers. She turned in the test with twenty minutes left and moved on to her next midterm.

The two didn’t even glance at each other as she left the room.

Pepper and her friends aced the Spanish test, and celebrated at a local ice cream shop, the one Tony took her to on that winter evening.

The memories of their date flooded her mind, but she tried to push them out and enjoy the time she was spending with her friends.

“Hey, I’m sorry if I got in the way, earlier.” Matt apologized to Pepper whilst everyone else was ordering their ice cream. “I heard you two broke up.”

Pepper tried to nod it off and swallow her emotions. “Yeah, well, I guess some things weren’t meant to be.”

Matt tried to smile, but still felt bad for what happened. “I hope you two stay friends, though.” She looked at him questionably. “I mean, sure, maybe you guys can’t be in a relationship, but you two seem like you’d make wonderful friends. I try to be friends with all my exes, but you know, it’s different for every person.”

Pepper thought about for a split second, but the issue with trust was still lingering between her and Tony. If he asked her if she trusted him, she would say no.

\--

Pepper came back that night and spent some time with Melinda, Nat, Maria, and Maya. They all watched one of Natasha’s choice for movie night, Terminator 2, and needless to say, it was a lot better than the regular chick flick movies. For the first time a while, Pepper was happy; she was spending time with her friends, laughing about the movie and whatever gossip was floating around, and everything about it made her comfortable.

The weekend went by fast. It was already Monday evening when she finally realized that this week was Tony’s teaching week. She wondered if he was okay, how he was doing, if he was nervous, etc. And as much as she wanted to call him and ask, she couldn’t. Her hand touched her phone, but quickly pulled away, as if it burned her. Even if they weren’t together, or even friends, she still cared about him, one way or another.

“Hey,” Pepper got off her chair and pulled on her coat. Maya hummed in curiosity. “I’m going to go to the store and get some groceries. Want to come with?”

“I’ve got a Biology midterm tomorrow.” Maya groaned. “Want to get some milk for me?”

“Sure.” Pepper nodded. “The usual?”

“Yup!” Maya watched her leave. “Try not to get lost this time.”

“For the last time, I wasn’t lost!” Pepper growled, right before she slammed the door. Maya chuckled and went back to studying.

Pepper drove to the nearest Target, as she needed a few other things besides groceries. She picked up some underwear, a new hairbrush, and some make-up on her way towards the grocery section. When she reached for the carton of milk, she heard someone call her name. She looked over and saw a man standing there; he was dressed in a military coat, jeans, and a dark gray t-shirt.

“I’m sorry,” He apologized with a smile. “It is, Pepper, right?”

“Uh… yeah.” She let the refrigerator door close on its own. “…Who are you?”

“James. James Rhodes.” He chuckled. “You know, he told me you were cute, but I didn’t think he meant this cute.” He let his smile linger. “Of all the people you could date, you had to choose Tony, huh?”

“You’re… Tony’s friend?” Pepper was still slightly puzzled.

“Yeah. I bet he doesn’t talk about me though, huh?”

Pepper shook her head.

Rhodey frowned and mumbled, “That bastard…”

“How did you know it was me?” She asked.

Rhodey shrugged. “Tony has shown me a lot of a pictures, so I guess it was the hair and freckles.”

“He… he showed you pictures?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” He nodded proudly. “As much of an asshole as he is, he can get pretty sappy sometimes. I don’t mean to be _that_ guy, but the man loves you. You’re all he ever talks about when we meet up at the bar.”

Pepper widened her eyes. “Oh?”

“Yeah…” He slowly nodded. “I mean, you kind of changed his life.”

He gave her a chance to get her groceries, but as they walked, they chatted. Pepper mentioned the flyer Matt showed her and Rhodey was actually surprised.

“I didn’t think he’d tell you about that,” He said as he watched her grab some cheese and hotdog wieners out of the fridge.

Pepper pressed her lips together. “Well… he didn’t exactly tell me…”

This made Rhodey frown. “You found out?” She nodded. “Well, I guess that’s a hard thing to cover up, even after a couple years.”

“How did he change, though?” Pepper asked as they walked down the aisles. “He said he realized he was going down a ‘path’.”

Rhodey frowned a bit. “Yeah…” He said quite solemnly. “Tony takes things way out of proportion until he realizes it’s wrong. For him, it was his father.” He noticed the change in Pepper’s expression; her face filled with understanding. “I take it he told you?”

“He didn’t need to tell me much. I’ve heard stories about him and his father’s relationship.”

“He doesn’t like bringing it up that much, though, but it’s for a good reason.” Rhodey nodded. “I’ve known him since Middle School, and he rarely talks about his father.”

Pepper smiled. “You two must be really good friends.”

He laughed. “Sometimes, when he’s not a complete ass.” Pepper laughed with him.

“His father pushed him into working for Stark Industries, even though Tony was already set on the idea of becoming a teacher. His father took away the money, thinking it would make him go back to the family business, but Tony did what he could to live without his father’s consent.”

“His robots.” Pepper muttered.

“Yup. He made a living out of his hobby, and even though he was really good at robots, mechanics, physics—you know, that sort of thing—he was still set on becoming a teacher. But, you know, I’m proud of him, for standing up to his father, pursing his own goals and dreams… He’s been in dark places before, but I’m glad he’s where he is right now.”

“So, that whole thing with the women…”

“He’s lost his way a few times, we all have… I guess the sleeping around was his rebellious side talking.”

“How did he realize it was the wrong path for him?”

Rhodey began to grin. “When I beat the shit out of him for it.”

“You—“

“I was leaving for the army and he was supposed to meet me one last time before I flew off. He didn’t show.” Rhodey shook his head. “I knocked some sense into him, and… he just broke… I mean, the man is a genius, but I guess he needed a friend to help guide him.”

“What happened after that?”

“He went to Sex Addiction Anonymous, got some therapy treatment, and did some yoga.” Rhodey smiled at Pepper. “And met you.”

Pepper returned the smile. “I can hardly imagine I had anything to do with his recovery.”

“But you did.” He tried to tell her. “Whenever he talks about you, his eyes light up, he smiles, and—there’s just this glimmer of hope floating around him. I’ve never seen him so happy before. I mean, I am a little disappointed he took you to Valso’s before me, but y’know, we can’t all get what we want.”

Pepper’s smile slowly turned into a frown as Tony’s harsh last words drifted through her mind.

_“I changed because I knew what I wanted. I wanted someone that would see me for who I was, who wouldn’t judge me based on what happened in the past—someone that loved me for who I am today and who I’m trying to become… I was hoping that someone was you… I guess I was wrong.”_

“Hey, James?”

“Hm?”

“Tony stopped years ago, right?”

“The women?”

She nodded.

“Yeah.” Rhodey nodded back.

“So he wouldn’t…”

“No, but if he ever did, I’d break his teeth in again.” Rhodey gave her a stern look. “Just give me the word, Pepper, and I’ll knock some sense into him.”

Pepper laughed. “It’s okay. You’re his best friend. I’m sure you’d know before me.”

“I’m on and off in the army, so I can’t be here all the time to keep an eye on him.” They arrived at the cashier line. “He’s all yours now.” Pepper laughed as Rhodey sincerely smiled at her, letting the silence between them drift. “He really loves you, Pepper. I hope you know that.”

Before they said their good-byes and went their separate ways, they hugged. Rhodey was only in town for a day, so he didn’t get to see Tony, which would make sense why he didn’t know about the break-up. Their talk put things into a whole new prospective; in a way, it opened her eyes and let her see past her fears.

“I guess I have some apologizing to do…” Pepper muttered as she walked to her car.

\--

When she walked into physics class the next day, she was surprised to see Tony prepared and professional. He wore the same outfit, jeans, a t-shirt, and a blazer, but he still looked professional; his stance was different, and he looked focused.

He start off the class with exercises, which reflected his tutoring with her, and to her surprise, as she looked around the room, the students were actually participating and writing down notes. His lesson was going really well, up until the last minute.

“Before you go, please remember that Professor Fredrickson has finished grading your second midterms. You may come to my office to see your score and your grade.”

Many students groaned and others gathered around Tony after class, asking him questions and whatnot. When everyone left, Tony was the only one in the room. He leaned against the desk, ran his hand though his hair and sighed. It was a long day for him; he spent most of the morning preparing and double checking his lesson plan.

He didn’t know why, but he felt a disappointment rush through him when he realized Pepper wasn’t there waiting for him, like she normally would when they were together. He smiled as he remembered her teasing after class, how she’d tangle their fingers together and tug him towards the cafeteria for a quick snack.

He tried to push those thoughts out as he gathered his things.

Students were lined up at his office, asking for their midterm and their resulting grade. Some left with a smile and some with a frown. Some expected a different score, and others were just delighted they didn’t fail.

Tony took out his notebook after a few silent minutes and decided to go over his lesson plans for Thursday, the day of the quiz. He heard a familiar knock on the door, but who he didn’t expect it to be was Pepper.

He stared at her for a few seconds, unsure of what to say.

“Miss Potts,” he finally grounded out. “Here for your midterm?”

Pepper bit her bottom lip. “Sort of.” Her stomach jumped when she saw his chocolate brown eyes stare at her. Tony flipped through the last of the midterms and handed it to her.

“Ninety-five out of one-hundred. Well done.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I learn from the best.” She complimented him. He paused a bit, and tried not to think too much of it.

“I doubt you need to see your grade then?”

“I…” Pepper paused as she struggled with the right words to say. “…I want to apologize, Tony.”

Tony stopped writing at that moment and stared down at his notebook. Did he have to say something? Was he supposed to sit there and listen? He was mildly confused.

Thankfully, she continued. “You were right. I don’t know you—I don’t know everything about you, your life story, your childhood, or anything else. And… I’m sorry. It was wrong for me to judge you like that, to think that you were cheating on me, or that you were…” She stopped there. “In High School, my ex cheated on me. I just... I didn’t want my heart to break again, especially not with you.”

Tony finally looked up at her; he had no set expression, but he did feel sympathetic.

His silence told her he was listening, but either didn’t want to hear it or didn’t know what to say. He was deep in thought, wondering what he _should_ say. The left on terrible words, and he didn’t want to say something that would only push her further away.

She pressed her lips together as the tension rose. “I have class soon, so…” She began to nod. “Again, I’m sorry.” She motioned to leave, but her name slipped through his lips before she could cross the threshold.

“Pepper.” He stopped her. “I should be the one to apologize.” He got up from his seat and walked towards her. “I… I should’ve told you… but I didn’t want you to—“

“—Judge you?” Her lips formed a small smile.

“Yeah.” He returned the smile; he scratched the back of his head and moved closer to her. “I shouldn’t have said that stuff to you earlier.”

“No, no. I deserved it.”

“But you are, okay, right?” He asked softly. She hummed in confusion. “Your grandmother.”

“Oh.” She tried to show a brave face. “It hurts, but I’ll be fine.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.” He frowned. “I guess it was my fault I messed that up.”

“No. I shouldn’t have attacked you like that.” They went back and forth on apologizes, but they both were smiling, which was always a good thing. He hugged her and held her tight, letting all of his emotions out; he was relieved they were starting to patch things up. He was happy they didn’t stay mad at each other, because seeing her every day in class was painful enough.

She hugged him back and rest her head on his chest, with his chin resting on top.

“I missed you.” He muttered.

“I missed you, too.”

They stayed in each other’s arms for a good minute, until a student passed by, asking for his midterm. They quickly unraveled themselves.

“Uh, right.” Tony nodded. “Midterm.” He went back to his desk to retrieve the stack of papers, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pepper begin to leave. “Pepper, wait—“

“It’s okay.” She smiled. “I have class soon anyways.”

“Okay…” He frowned. “…I’ll stop by later.”

“Mkay.” She nodded before finally leaving his sight. Tony gave the student his midterm back, and even talked about his grade. When the student left, he took a look at the clock on the desk; he had a lot of work to do and a lot of time to kill. He just wanted the day to end so he could see her.

\--

Class for Pepper went by quite slowly; all she could think about was Rhodey’s words and Tony. She stared at her notebook for the longest time, wondering what Tony was thinking, and how he was doing. She knew he’d be cooped up in the office until late, but she still wondered.

 _“He really loves you, Pepper, I hope you know that.”_ Rhodey’s words echoed in her mind.

“Miss Potts.” It was faint, but she paid no mind to it. It got closer and closer, until the sound of someone clearing their throat, and the feeling of someone nudging her in the arm, jolted her out of her own thoughts.

Her head snapped up and saw her Spanish professor staring down at her, holding their Spanish textbook in her hand.

“Is everything alright?” The teacher asked.

Pepper’s cheeks went red, but only for a second. “Oh—yes. Everything is fine.”

“Then you’ll have no trouble reading the third paragraph.” The professor muttered as she turned away.

“Of course not.” Pepper looked down at her textbook and immediately began to recite the third paragraph.

“—Next page, Miss Potts.”

Pepper pressed her lips together and tried to hold in her tendency to blush whenever she made a mistake in front of a large crowd. She flipped to the next page and began to read. She paid more attention after that, but she found her mind drifting to the same thoughts. _Tony…_

\--

_Knock, knock._

Pepper opened the door almost as soon as she heard the knock; she didn’t want to admit it, but she practically lunged for the knob.

“Tony,” Pepper breathed with a wide smile.

“Hey.” He returned the grin; his hands were stuffed in his pants pockets, but he looked as handsome as ever. And then there was silence. “Mind if I come in?”

She shook her head as she tried to push herself out of her own thoughts – it was something she always did when she felt nervous, but it was only Tony. There was no need to be nervous.

“Oh, of course.”

Tony closed the door behind him and dropped his bag. “I was hoping we could… talk…”

She turned around, almost frowning. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” He stared at her; he could sense her fear. “To iron stuff out, so we don’t end up in the same situation.”

“Ah.” Pepper nodded. “No more keeping secrets?”

“Well, I can’t tell you all of my secrets.” He smirked as he reached into his bag. “I brought popcorn, by the way. I snatched one from Fredrickson’s office. I’m sure he won’t mind since I restock his coffee supply every month.”

She chuckled. “Secrets, huh?”

“I promise, none of them are terribly bad.” He held up his hands in defense before he put the popcorn in the microwave.

“I guess I shouldn’t tell you any of mine, then.” Pepper sat on top of her bed, as he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Pepper Potts has secrets?” He approached her with a curious look. “I don’t believe that.”

She poked him in the side. “What? I have secrets.”

“Uh huh.”

She gave him a playful, yet angry, look. “What?”

“Nothing.” He shrugged. “It’s just… I don’t think you have any.”

“Why?”

“Because you tell me everything.”

“I don’t tell you _everything_.”

“Mhm.” He hummed casually.

“Oh, okay.” Pepper began to smirk. “I see how it is. Well, then I guess you’ll never find out about my _collection_.”

Tony’s ears perked up. “Collection?”

“Lingerie.” She whispered.

His ears began to twitch. “Lin…gerie?” His eyes widened as he began to think about Pepper clothed in lingerie. It was safe to assume everything south of his belt was listening as well. He shifted in his spot and tried not to go red.

“Mhm.” Pepper grinned and bit her bottom lip.

“How…” He cleared his throat. “How… much…”

“I don’t know. Guess you’ll have to find out.” She flashed a seductive look, and he instantly caved. His hands were at her waist and his head was low, his lips were mere centimeters away from hers, and his fingers played with the cloth, bunching some together between his fingers. He was completely under her spell—until the microwave _dinged_.

He was jolted out of the trance, almost violently. “Christ, Pepper,” He cursed as he quickly moved over to the microwave. Pepper chuckled as she watched him cautiously open the bag of steaming, hot popcorn. The steam burned the tips of his fingers, but only briefly. He let the bag cool down on her desk, but every now and then, they’d reach in for a piece.

They both laid down on her bed and cuddled on top of the sheets. Her leg was between his and her head rest on the inside of his shoulder. He had an arm around her shoulder, holding her as close as he could; her scent cascaded around him, enveloping him, and hugging him. It was familiar, but not too strong. It gave him some reassurance and comfort, something he missed whenever he was around her.

“How long did he cheat on you?” Tony asked. Their conversation bared no secrets; they both knew if they wanted the relationship to go anywhere, they’d have to open up, even if it was just a little.

“Two years.” Pepper pressed her lips together as the remembrance of the entire event pierced her heart.

“What?” He gasped. “That asshole…”

She rubbed her cheek into his shirt and wrapped her arm around his middle. “It was my fault I didn’t listen to anyone. People kept telling me he was cheating on me, but I didn’t listen—I didn’t want to listen. I trusted him so much… even when I confronted him about it, to see what he had to say, I believed his lies, and every reassuring word that spewed out of his mouth.” A tear ran down her cheek, and when Tony felt it seep through his shirt, he squeezed her shoulder, comforting her.

“It hurt the most when I caught him.” Pepper clutched Tony’s shirt. “I wanted to surprise him for his birthday… something memorable since we were both about to graduate. That’s when I found him screwing some other girl from another High School. And the worst part was that he didn’t look sad… he didn’t look shocked to get caught.” Told held her as she began to cry. “He didn’t even apologize. He told me it was my fault…”

Tony pressed a lingering kiss to the top of her head. “That guy was a jerk, but y’know, if you happen to write his address down on a piece of paper—“

She smirked, blinked away the tears, and poked him in the side. “No, Tony. I’d rather not touch that part of my life any longer.”

“I’d never do that to you, Pepper.” He murmured.

“I know.” She smiled into his shirt.

“But, if we ever see him on the street or something, just let me know.”

“The past is the past, right?” She muttered. “What happened in the past is over with. There’s no use looking back if it’s going to hold you down.”

Tony smiled as the words left her lips. “Yeah…”

“Kind of like what you did.” She traced small shapes onto his stomach and chest. “You got help and moved on.”

“Yea—“ Tony stopped and furrowed his eyebrows. “—Wait a second, I never mentioned that I got help.”

“Oh, I ran into your friend last night.”

“My… friend…?”

“James.”

Tony blinked. “Oh—wait, he was in town? He left weeks ago…”

“He said he was only in town for the day.” Pepper looked up at him and smiled. “Why, do you miss him?” Her smile grew.

Tony let out an exasperated breath. “I don’t miss him… I just, you know, would’ve liked him to tell me he was in town, so we could at least grab a drink.” He sighed. “So, how much did he tell you?”

“About what happened?”

“Yeah.”

“Not a lot. He just said he straightened you out.”

“Yeah, _I_ remember that.” Tony smirked. “Almost knocked me out, too.” He lingered on the memory. “But I’m glad he did. I’d probably be knee deep in shit right now if he hadn’t.”

“Did he force you to get help?”

“No…” Tony began. “…He made me realize what was going to happen if I continued, and that’s when I knew I needed to change. It wasn’t easy… change is never easy, but he helped me. Rhodey was always there for me, even when he was overseas on military duty. He’d check up on me, make sure I was doing okay… and then he got promoted…” Tony frowned. “…Didn’t see him much after that, but I owe him a lot.”

Tony hugged her and kissed her. “Without him, I don’t think I would’ve even met you.”

“James told me it all started with your father…” Pepper muttered; she could tell from the way he tensed up at her words that she struck a sore spot. “…I—you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No, no.” He tried to smile. “It’s fine… no secrets, remember?” Pepper gave him a small reassuring nudge, but he didn’t know where to begin. “My father was cruel, but my mother was not. It was like fire and ice—my parents, I mean. My father set a path for me, and my mom just wanted to see me happy. My father tried sending me to boarding school, but it never worked out… I guess I have to thank my mom for that, because without her, I would’ve never met Rhodey. I was always good with robots, mechanical parts, and all things electrical… My father was impressed, but he never praised me. He assumed I would work for Stark Industries the day he found out what a ‘genius’ I was, but I never wanted to work for Stark Industries.” He could feel Pepper hug him tighter. “I was kicked out of the house on the day I graduated High School. I told my parents I didn’t want to go to school for Physics, Engineering, or Computers… I wanted to teach. My mom was relieved when I mustered up the courage to tell them, but my father was not. He yelled at me, threw stuff, and despite my mom’s wishes for him to stop controlling me, he didn’t budge. He threw me out of the house and told me to never return.”

Pepper stayed silent and listened; she didn’t know what to say at that time—should she apologize? Every single one of his words broke her heart. A son looks up to his father, as a daughter would to her mother, but the thought of being rejected by his own parents struck her. She could never imagine such a thing happening to anyone.

“I lived off what I could with what my mom gave me, but when my father found out, he seized all of my accounts… bank accounts and the like. That’s when I used my hobby to my advantage. I went around fixing electronics, creating robots for miscellaneous companies… doing whatever I had to do to pay for college and a roof above my head, but you know…” Tony smiled as he paused for a second. “…If my father hadn’t kicked me out of the house, I’d probably be miserable beyond belief. In a way, all that he did to me, all the manipulating and verbal abuse… it only made me stronger. It’s taught me what’s right and wrong in this world – it set my morals straight, and it led me to you.”

Tony chuckled when he heard her sniff back the tears.

“Are you crying?” He asked softly.

“No…” She lied. “…I’m not.”

“Aw, Honey…” He laughed and turned on his side to hug her. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tight. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Tony.”

He kissed her shoulder and then her cheek; he was thankful for everything he had so far, the friends he’s gained, and the support he’s been given. If he hadn’t had Rhodey, or Pepper, by his side, he didn’t know where he’d be. He owed them, including Jarvis, so much…

“So… you skinny dipped in your neighbor’s pool and got chased right into your mom?” He heard her chuckle into his ear.

“Rhodey…” Tony grounded out angrily. “I’m going to kill him.” Pepper laughed. “Please tell me he didn’t tell you anything else…”

“Oh, with the amount of stuff that he’s told me, I’m pretty sure I have years of blackmail on you.”

“You two are never meeting again….”

Pepper laughed again and hugged him.

They fell asleep a couple hours later, curled up in each other’s arms and basking in each other’s presence. They couldn’t remember the last time they had a good night sleep with nothing to worry about, no tests to stress over, or lesson plans to plot out; everything was quiet that night, except for the sound of Tony’s soft snoring that happened to be right against Pepper’s ear. She, of course, mumbled something incoherent and turned the other way, but his arms searched for her seconds later, wondering where she had gone. It was only when his big warm hands had reached her did he fall back asleep, content and relaxed.

Maya slowly opened the door later that night and entered the room with a big yawn. She only stayed out as late as 3AM when she had midterms of her own to study for. Her sleepy and exhausted mind wandered all over the place until she laid eyes on her roommate’s bed.

A wide grin spread across her face when she saw the two cuddling; Tony’s arm was wrapped around her shoulder, keeping her safe, while her arm was around his middle, hugging him and trying to curl into his side.

Pepper was due for an explanation later, but Maya figured she’d get it the next morning. He tiptoed around the room, changing into her pajamas, and getting ready for bed. When she did finally slip underneath her sheets, she took one last glance at the couple; Tony’s lips were pressed softly against her forehead, and Pepper was smiling contently.

“Good night, you idiots.” Maya whispered, right before she fell asleep.

\--

“And then the internal velocity of the cylinder would be…” A man in a white coat began to write down some formulas and numbers, as other men in white coat took down notes on their clipboards.

There were two observers seated in a viewing room; both of them were dressed like business men. One was observing the scientists and taking notes, while the other was looking down at his lap.

The one on the left sighed. “This is too slow. At the rate this is going, we won’t get Project 10 up and running by the deadline. Forget the demo. The United States Government won’t even take a glance at us.” He looked to his right to see what the other man had to say, but noticed he wasn’t looking at the scientists. He looked down at the newspaper in the man’s lap and smirked. There was a small picture on the page he was currently on and the person in the picture, at first glance, looked quite familiar to him.

“Your son is making quite the news lately, huh?”

On the newspaper was a picture of Tony teaching a class with the title, ‘The Future Has Never Looked Brighter’.

Howard Stark coldly stared at the paper. “So it seems.” He got up from his seat and took the newspaper with him. “Dismiss all of the potential candidates. I’m going to visit my son.” He dropped the newspaper in the trash. “He needs to be driven to the right path, and I’ll do it by force if I have to.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean Project 10 will be done on time?”

Howard didn’t answer him as he left the viewing room.

\--

“This is what you meant? God, for a second there, I thought you were going to kill me or something. And then I thought to myself, Pepper wouldn’t kill me, right? I knew you were too good to be true.” Tony watched her walk around him.

“You said ‘anything’.” She smirked.

“And I also said ‘ace the test’, which you did not.”

“I did, too.”

“You got a 95%. That’s not acing a test. That’s just doing really well.”

Pepper stopped in front of him, put a hand on the shoulder of the chair, just next to his shoulder, and leaned towards him. “Tony, you’re tied to a chair. I don’t think you want to be arguing right now—and besides, you voluntarily said ‘yes’ to this.”

“Because you said we were going to have sex.”

“And we are.” She grinned.

This was the result of their bet that was place a few weeks ago.

_“You ace that test and I’ll let you do whatever you want to me.”_

_“Anything?”_

_“Anything.” Tony grinned. “Doesn’t even have to be sex related.”_

There was a sudden click in his mind. “Holy hell, this is one of your kinks, isn’t it?” He watched her undress, and his mouth watered as he watched each piece of clothing slip off to uncover her creamy skin. “Jesus, Pep.” He cursed, as he eyed her up and down.

Her lacy red panties and black bra made everything below his waist stir. He watched her approach him; no words left his mouth as she straddled his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

She smiled warmly as the bulge in his boxers poked her.

He stared up at her. He’s been in this situation many times, but this one was different. In the past, he’s had women tie him up, and do whatever they want to him, with consent, of course, but it was only for pleasure. He had no feelings for them; all he wanted was sex.

But here he sat, hands tied behind the head of the chair and his legs, and looking up at the woman he’s grown to love and trust so much. The only feeling he could describe, that differentiated this moment with Pepper and his past moments with random women, was ‘happy’. He felt so happy to be there with her.

“I love you,” He mumbled as he felt her fingers play with the hair on the back of his neck.

She grinned. “I love you, too.” She kissed him softly. “Now shut up and let me ride you—“

The knob on the door turned and the door clicked open. Pepper and Tony’s eyes both widened.

“Hey, Nat and I have two bottles of vodka. Who’s ready to play battle shots—“ Maya stopped in her tracks once she saw the activity in the middle of the room. She stared at the two of them, and the two of them stared back.

“Why’d you stop?” Nat asked from behind Maya. “Are we playing battle shots or—“ She looked over her shoulder and immediately stopped. “Whoa.” She began to smirk. “Hello.”

“Holy shit, Maya!” Pepper buried her face in Tony’s neck as the embarrassment made her cheeks instantly turn red.

“I’m sorry—I’m so sorry!” Maya scrambled backwards, but Nat was still trying to get a view of the couple.

“I told you I needed the room tonight!” Pepper yelled.

“No you didn’t!” Maya yelled back.

“I did last night!”

“I was half asleep, do you seriously expect me to remember that?” Maya closed the door after another apologetic ‘I’m sorry’.

Pepper rubbed her head against Tony’s shoulder and groaned loudly. The embarrassment was getting to her and she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to look at Maya in the eyes ever again. She forgot Tony was tied to the chair until he began to squirm underneath her.

“Does this mean we’re not having sex?” He asked her.

Pepper pulled away to give him a look.

“I take that as a no.” He frowned. “And I was so looking forward to it…”

Pepper wiggled on top of him. “I can tell.” She then began to sigh. “I’m sorry. I told her I needed the room and…” She was used to the fact that she had a roommate and couldn’t have sex with Tony whenever she wanted, but she forgot about the chances of miscommunication.

Tony grinned. “It’s okay.” He kissed her cheek. “We can always reschedule—unless this counts—“

“Oh no. This does not count.” She grinned.

“How about tomorrow night, my place?” He leaned into her arm that was still wrapped around his neck.

She furrowed her eyebrows as her ears caught wind of his words. “Your place?”

“Yeah.” He nodded, and then he saw her face. “What? I _do_ live somewhere, you know.”

She chuckled. “I know.”

“I mean, I don’t live under a bridge or in a cardboard box.”

“I know, I know. It’s… It’s just that I’ve never seen your place before.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Is it too soon?”

“No. It’s just…” She shrugged. “…I don’t know.”

He laughed. “Don’t worry. We’ll take baby steps. I’ll introduce you to my door mat, and we’ll work our way from there, okay?”

She playfully hit his chest as they both laughed. They kissed softly and as everything winded down, Maya’s voice could be heard on the other side of the door, asking if they were done yet.

Pepper sighed and was about to climb off Tony’s lap to untie him, but he nudged her, or at least tried to nudge her.

“Uh, we have a slight problem.” He mentioned; once he caught her eye, he looked down at his lap. She followed his eyes and also looked down at his lap. They both stared at the bulge between his legs.

“Want me to take care of it?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll uh… I’ll go to the bathroom down the hall or something.”

She instantly felt bad. “I really am sorry, Tony.”

“It’s okay.” He kissed her cheek. “Don’t worry, Honey. This only means you owe me one later.”

She climbed off his lap and began to untie him. “I do not.”

“Yes, you do, or else this counts.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Fine. You owe me half.”

“Half?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his wrists a bit after the ropes were pulled off.

“And how exactly is that going to work?”

He turned his head to look at her up and down again. His lips formed a small, yet seductive, smile. “Well, after you’re done, I should get a chance to do something, too.”

She raised her eyebrow. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, but it’ll be a surprise.” He got off the chair to grab his pants off her bed.

\--

“You forgive me, right?” Maya asked later that night, after all four of them, Maya, Nat, Pepper, and Tony, finished a couple rounds of battle shots.

“I guess.” Pepper smirked and looked over at Maya. They were close enough to know when they were mad at each other, and so it was a relief for Maya when she saw that small smile on her roommate’s face.

“So, Tony’s place, huh?”

“How did—“

“The door isn’t that sound proof, you know.”

“So…”

“Yeah, we heard everything.” She watched Pepper stare up at the ceiling, drowning in her own thoughts. “Nervous?”

“No…” Pepper pressed her lips together. “…I’m just wondering if it’s too soon.”

“Why would it be too soon?”

“Because it’s Tony and I. We’ve only been together for three months.”

“So? Some people go to their boyfriend’s place on the first date. I can already tell you, it’s not weird.” Maya tried to reassure her.

Pepper glanced at her. “I guess you’re right.”

After a short pause, Maya flashed a wide grin. “So, tying him to a chair, huh?”

That’s when Pepper groaned and rolled over on her bed so her back faced her roommate.

“That was really hot, by the way. Not going to lie.”

Pepper smiled to herself.

\--

Mr. Fredrickson reviewed the scores of each student and was surprised to see that all of the students passed with at least a C. There was no surprise there, but a slew of students e-mailed him over the weekend praising the work Tony pulled out while he was away on personal vacation. They made a point about their understanding of the questions they missed; if they were given another chance, they’d do better, according to the result from Tony’s teaching. After some back and forth e-mails with said students, he decided to make a crucial decision.

On the night Pepper came over to Tony’s place to finish what they started, Tony got an e-mail from Mr. Fredrickson, asking to meet with him on Monday in the office.

“I wonder what he wants to talk about…” Tony muttered as he stared at the e-mail on his phone.

Pepper came up beside him and massaged the spot on his shoulder. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“I hope not…” He sounded worried.

Pepper pulled his face away from his phone and towards her. She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on his lips, and in the heat of passion, he tossed his phone somewhere and focused on the beautiful woman in front of him. He pulled her on top of his lap and kissed her soundly as they rode the waves of passion.

His cat only interrupted them three times before they finally retreated to his spacious bedroom and closed the door. When he first let Pepper into his apartment, the first thing he noticed was his cat’s odd attraction to her. His cat was normally mean and fussy, but he was rubbing up against her and purring without a care in the world.

He took it as a good sign, but later called his cat a traitor after he failed to pet him without being hissed at.

\--

“You never told me they wanted to put you in the newspaper.” Mr. Fredrickson said as he put the newspaper down in front of him.

Tony was on the other side of his desk; he glanced at the newspaper, but only briefly. He’s seen it before. Pepper was actually the first one to show him.

“I didn’t know myself. From what I heard, a student in the class took the picture and sent it to one of his friends that worked at the LA Times.” Tony grinned nervously.

“Well, I would have to say the title is quite true.” Mr. Fredrickson smiled at his TA. “Do you know how many people passed the class last year?”

“About half… I think.”

“And do you know how many people passed this midterm?”

“All of them.”

“That’s right.” Mr. Fredrickson briefly pointed at Tony with his index finger. “Over the weekend, I got some interesting e-mails, praising your teaching. In all my years of teaching, I have never seen so many people exciting and enthusiastic about Physics, especially when this class is for most majors and not just Physics majors.” He smiled to himself. “According to my records, no student is currently failing, which is a first for me, but whether or not they’ll pass is decided by the final, as you would already know.”

Tony nodded.

“Which is why I’ve decided on a few things.” Mr. Fredrickson and Tony stared at each other; the anticipation was killing Tony. His palms were covered in sweat and it almost seemed hard to swallow. He only hoped he wasn’t being fired.

\--

“What!?” Pepper couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Tony had a wide grin on his face. “Yeah,” He laughed lightly. “I’m going to be teaching for the rest of the semester.”

“Oh my god!” Pepper threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. “I’m so happy for you, Tony.”

He hugged her back and kissed the side of her neck. “Well, I mean, he’s going to be taking notes of my teach style and work, but he said he really likes what I’m doing and that I’ll be skipping the second phase of getting my credentials.” He sounded really, really happy. “He’s already met with the board and he thinks I’ll be able to start next semester as a teacher.”

Pepper pulled away at the news. “You—What!?”

“Yeah!” Tony smiled widely. “He said they were thinking of auditioning potential candidates to fit in another section for Physics, upper and lower divisions, but he says they’re thinking of letting me teach instead, depending on how well I do in the next few weeks, that is.”

She couldn’t help but grin and bite her bottom lip. She was so happy for him; she was happy he made it this far into his dream. In the last week, she’s heard about all the lows in his life, the tough moments he’s been through, and everything in between. She was so proud of him, how much he was turning his life around, and how happy he looked. She wanted to cry; a few tears were beading at the corner of her eyes, but she did the best to fight them back.

“Aw, Honey,” He saw the shine in her eyes. “Are you—“

“No,” She buried her face into his chest, trying to hide the tears that slipped down her cheek. “I’m not crying.”

He laughed and hugged her tightly, and kissed the top of her head. All of his affection and love for her poured into every gesture as he held her. He loved her so much; he had so much to thank her for, but those words were far from his reach. He normally wasn’t the sappy, feelings type, but there were certain moments when he wanted to tell her how much he loved her and how happy he was she let him into her life.

He was afraid their last fight was the end, but he was so relieved it wasn’t.

\--

Professor Fredrickson taught on Tuesday, and announced to the class that Tony would be teaching for the remainder of the semester and evaluated accordingly. The reactions from the class were nothing but positive, and even Pepper was smiling widely at the announcement.

The professor thanked every student for their hard work and feedback, and asked that they show Tony the same support.

The class was normal; they went through a new chapter and Tony took notes off to the side to prepare for the next week or two. He still stressed over lesson plans even when he was already confident in his work, but he didn’t want to let himself slip.

Pepper glanced over at Tony a few times and exchanged a few smiles. She did her best to reassure him that he would do a good job regardless of what happens on the final. He only hoped Mr. Fredrickson and the school board saw that and didn’t base his performance on the results of the final exam.

After class, Tony and Pepper met up for a couple hours to grab some lunch. They met Maya, Nat, Melinda, and Maria in the cafeteria. Pepper kept a hand on Tony’s thigh, hoping he wasn’t feeling nervous about the up and coming days on his teaching debut. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her, thanking her for the support and reassurance.

Later that night, Tony and Pepper went out to celebrate. They went to a nice restaurant, but Tony was surprised when Pepper checked in for her reservation.

“Miss Potts for three?” The man took three menus with him and nodded at her. “Right this way, please.”

Tony furrowed his eyebrows as he trailed behind her. “Three?” He asked.

Pepper smiled, hoping her surprise would be considered a good one.

When they arrived at their table, they were both greeted with a man whom was already seated. Tony’s eyes sparkled once he saw it was his best friend, Rhodey.

“Rhodey.” Tony grinned.

“Hey, man.” Rhodey greeted him with a hug.

“What—“ Tony was speechless. “What are you doing here?” He asked as they pulled away.

“Pepper told me the good news.” Rhodey glanced over at Pepper, and Pepper returned a smile. “I happened to be close, so I took a couple days off, called in a favor, and took a helicopter ride here.” He opened his arms. “Happy to see me?”

Tony shook his head at him, but kept smiling. “Depends. I heard you told Pepper a few things.”

“C’mon, man.” Rhodey laughed. “I’m just spreading the joy.”

“Uh huh.” Tony rolled his eyes.

As they sat down at the table, Tony briefly wrapped his arm around Pepper and kissed her cheek. He couldn’t explain how happy he was to have her and call her his girlfriend.

They spent the evening catching up; Tony and Rhodey joked around, and in the cross-fire, Pepper learned a few new things about Tony, both embarrassing and enlightening.

“Did you meet JARVIS yet, Pepper?” Rhodey asked.

Pepper began to chuckle. “Yes, I did.”

“There were a few bugs…” Tony mumbled.

“A few bugs?” Rhodey began to laugh. “Let me guess, did he start telling you about the times Tony was caught by his parents with his hand down his—“

“Yes.” Tony stopped him and glared at him. “Yes, he did. I thoroughly scrubbed his hard drive after that…”

Rhodey and Pepper both laughed. Pepper tried to comfort Tony by placing her hand on his thigh, but the red on his cheeks said everything.

After dinner, they ended the night at an ice cream shop, the same ice cream shop Tony took Pepper to before he asked her to be his girlfriend. Tony and Pepper got the usual while Rhodey ordered a banana split. Tony continually tried to steal some from Rhodey, but Rhodey shoved him away, telling him to get his own. The two continued to fight like old women while Pepper watched them with a wide smile.

The sight of their close friendship was refreshing to her. It was such a happy moment for all three of them.

\--

But happiness is never meant to last.

A week later, on Tuesday, Tony’s second day of teaching the class, he got a special visit, one that he thought he’d never see.

It was during the last ten minutes of class when all heads turned to the door of the classroom. Tony didn’t notice until he heard the whispers from the people that sat in the front row of the class.

“Holy shit, is that—“

“It’s Howard Stark.”

“What?”

“Are you sure?”

“It’s Howard Stark…”

“Howard Stark…”

Tony’s heart stopped at the name; he slowly turned his head to look at the threshold and saw his father standing there. He was dressed in a sharp business suit, he wasn’t smiling, but his stare was hard and cold as ever. Tony couldn’t see it, but he knew his bodyguards were right beside him.

Pepper glanced at Tony and then at his father with worry on her face. From what Tony told her, he and his father were not on good terms and never will be. His father wasn’t visiting because he was in town. There was a reason, and that unknown reason worried her.

Tony was thankful that Mr. Fredrickson left early for a meeting, or else he wouldn’t have been able to dismiss the class early when he knew his father’s presence would hinder his concentration.

“Uh… Class dismissed.” Tony announced as he continued to stare at his father. “Please remember, there is a quiz tomorrow, so… uh… prepare… for that.”

Students filed out one by one, but not without taking pictures with their phones or whispering to each other. Pepper filed out with them, not knowing if Tony wanted her to stay; she noticed the two body guards as she left and decided to linger around the corner and wait for him.

The tension between father and son was as big as a mountain; the silence between them was heavy and dense, and both bodyguards were forced to look away and mind their own business. It felt like years of pain and anguish were clashing all at once.

“Dad.” Tony said coldly.

“Anthony.” Howard replied.

“I know you’re not here for a visit because you miss your son, so why don’t you spit it out and say what you want.” Tony was cold and harsh, but not without reason.

Howard began to chuckle. “What makes you think I want something?”

“Because you always do.”

“I can’t miss my son?”

“I don’t know. After you kicked me out of the house and left me to survive on my own, I kind of got the idea that you didn’t want anything to do with me.”

Howard laughed and began to walk around the room. Tony watched him with careful and cautious eyes. Howard let his hand graze the top of the desk in the front row. He pressed his fingers together and let the residue of eraser droppings spread between his fingers.

“The future has never looked brighter.” Howard repeated the title from the newspaper. “Disgusting.”

Tony’s jaw hardened.

Howard turned to look at his son. “Do you think _your_ future is bright here?”

“This conversation is over.” Tony said abruptly as he turned to gather his things off the podium. “I want you gone by the end of the day.” He turned towards the door and began to leave.

Howard smirked. “You _will_ work for Stark Industries sooner or later, Anthony.” That stopped Tony in his tracks. “Your future is a dim light that will dwindle away into nothing in this pathetic excuse for a school. The only hopes of securing a _true_ future is if you help the nation and her interests.”

Tony turned his head, enough to see his father out of the corner of his eye. “After today, I better not see you.” He paused. “Ever again.” And with that, Tony left. He looked for Pepper and saw her on the end of the hallway. She asked if he was okay the second he walked up to her. He didn’t answer her, but smiled instead. He kissed her cheek and took her hand; he gave it a small squeeze, reassuring her that he was going to be okay.

Howard walked out of the classroom and watched his son leave the building; what caught his eye was the woman walking next to him. The red head was imprinted in his mind as his next target.

\--

Wednesday morning rolled around, and Tony was relieved the episode with his father was done and over with. It took all of his strength and courage to stand up to Howard, but he knew his father would not retreat so easily. He was waiting for his return; he just didn’t know when he would.

He went to a couple meetings with the board and was relieved to hear that they were now _highly_ considering him for the teaching position next semester, which in Mr. Fredrickson’s ears was a definite ‘yes’.

Pepper walked around her room in a rush to grab her things. She was running late for class and Maya was currently in a meeting for her senior thesis project. She thought she set her alarm on the right time, but was awoken to the wrong one.

A knock on her door made her rush even more.

“One second!” Pepper shouted. She pushed her things into her bag and swung open the door. “Sorry, I’m rushing to class—“ She stopped when she saw who it was. Howard Stark was standing in front of her and his bodyguards were nowhere to be seen.

“Miss Potts, is it?” Howard’s smile was chilling and his stare was intimidating. She didn’t know what to say. “I would like to have a word with you, if that’s okay.” Pepper tried to keep her resolve up, but Howard was much stronger.

The door closed behind him.

\--

Later that day, when Tony had thirty minutes left before he could leave for the night, his gut began to tell him that something was wrong, but he didn’t know what.

He didn’t need to look up from his grading book and pile of papers to know who was at the threshold of his office.

“I thought I told you to leave.” Tony said harshly.

“You did.” Howard said. “But I thought I’d try to persuade you once more.”

“You aren’t really the type to persuade. I’d say intimidation and threats are more your style.” Tony replied smartly.

“Well, you aren’t wrong there.” Howard’s hands were clasped behind him.

“Say what you have to say before I have security escort you out.”

“That red head…” Howard began to ponder as Tony’s head slowly lifted; the gut-wrenching feeling in his stomach made him sick. “…Pepper, is it? Is that her name, or is that just a nickname?”

“What… the fuck… did you say to her?” Tony growled at him; his fists balled up and his knuckles went white.

“I’ve met Mr. Rhodes and I’ve seen your… friendship with him, but I’ve never actually seen you in a relationship with another woman, because we both know how much you struggle in that department. Sleeping with women of all kinds, not caring who they are and only caring about what you get from it.” Howard shoved his hands in his pockets. “Tell me, Anthony. How much do to rely on her? How much do you trust her?” Tony couldn’t believe he was hearing as anger boiled in his blood. “How much do you love her?”

“Get. Out.” Tony grounded out with his temper at its tipping point. “Or I’ll throw you out myself.”

Howard stood his ground. “You _will_ serve your country and you _will_ work for Stark Industries. It’s only a matter of time before you succumb to the realization that you have no future as a teacher. Students and interests come and go, Anthony. Love comes and go. How will you explain that to Pepper when you realize that you no longer love her?”

Howard raised his eyebrow when he began to hear his son chuckle. It was the last thing he thought he’d hear from him.

“You’re wrong, Dad.” Tony said with a small smile. “This is where I am and this is where I want to be, with this job and with _her_. I _wanted_ this. I told you the moment I graduated from college, and you kicked me out of the house. I’ve seen the world, the good and the bad. I’ve dealt with it personally, but I’ve had help along the way, despite your poor excuse for support. You’ve never accepted me as your son. You’ve only seen me as another employee, a person you can push around to do your bidding.” Tony stood up from his desk and looked at his father in the eye. He was no longer speaking out of courage; he was speaking out of love and determination, for his job and his friends. “I’m no longer the little boy you’ve not once acknowledged. I’ve wanted this job for years. I’ve worked _hard_ for this. Maybe I’ve lost my way at the beginning, but I know what I want and who I want. I _love_ her, and even then, I can’t speak for our relationship, but I know how much she loves me, regardless of what I did in the past. She actually understands me and supports me for everything I’ve done and everything I want to do.” Howard kept a straight face. “I don’t need your approval. I don’t need your judgment.” He paused. “I don’t need you anymore. This is what I want to do and this is what I _love_ to do. And you’re no longer a part of my future. So, I’ll tell you once more. You either leave and never show your face around here again, or I’ll have security escort you out.”

Howard stared at Tony; it was the usual stare, as sharp as a blade but more hardened.

\--

Pepper was brushing her hair in her room as she relaxed after experiencing such a hard day. She had two quizzes and had to work on a project straight after. She didn’t come back to her dorm room until 10PM. Just when she thought she’d finally be able to unwind, there was a knock on her door. Maya wasn’t home at the time.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by her boyfriend.

“Hey,” she smiled lightly. He had solemn look on his face, one that worried her. “You okay?”

“What did he say to you?” His tone was gentle, but full of heartbreak and worry.

“Huh?”

“My father.” He frowned at her. “I know he said something to you.”

Pepper pressed her lips together as the event entered her mind once more.

_“How much do you love my son?” Howard asked her._

_Pepper stared at him, but didn’t answer. Tony was right; his father was intimidating and manipulating. His stare alone told her that much._

_“Enough to let him go?”_

_“I’m not sure I understand what you’re—“_

_“Tony is a strong man, capable of doing tremendous things,” Howard noted. “What he doesn’t need is someone to hold him down.”_

_Pepper stared coldly at him, knowing exactly what he was trying to do._

_“You’re a thorn at his side, Miss Potts. A plastic bag in the wind. He will throw you away when he doesn’t want you, and I can already tell you that he doesn’t.” His voice was as hard as stone. “I will tell you this once. My son is no teacher. He is a genius, he is a visionary, and he is the best this world has to offer. He will throw you away without even thinking, and I doubt you want to stick around for that.” Howard smirked. “You’ve seen what he’s done, what he’s capable of doing… all those women.”_

_The fact made her look away, but only briefly._

_“Yes, so you do know.” He could feel victory in his grasp. “Then you’ll also know that he will not hesitate to do it again. You don’t know him, Miss Potts. You will never know who he truly is.” He turned to leave, but at the last moment, Pepper spoke up. Her words, as true as they might have been, were what stopped him in his tracks._

_“And you do?” She replied. “You think you know your own son? I’ve known him for three and a half months, and I can already tell you, I know him better than you’ve known him your whole life.” Howard turned his head to stare at her._

_“A whore like you would never—“_

_“Tony isn’t your pawn anymore, Mr. Stark.” Pepper interjected him; Howard’s intimidation was wearing off. “He’s strong and he knows it. You think you have control over him, his future, and how he lives his life? You don’t.”_

_“And you would know this?”_

_“Yes, because I love him. I don’t care if he wants to be a clown next month or a truck driver next year. I will support him for whatever he wants to do. I already know why you’re here. You don’t need him. Stark Industries needs him. You’re a one man army trying to make it into a two man army with what? Intimidation? You’ve never shown him approval or love, so what makes you think he’ll go willingly?” Pepper’s voice was steady. It wasn’t bravery or courage. She was being a friend. “You’re right. Tony is strong. And he’ll be strong enough to stand up to you.”_

She grinned and looked back up at him. “He didn’t say much.”

He raised his eyebrows; he thought his dad would at least say something mean, hurtful, or intimidating, but Pepper seemed fine. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“Oh.”

“Did he say something to you?”

“Yeah…” Tony began to smile. “…But he won’t be back for a long time.”

“What’d you say to him?” Pepper asked.

Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. “Nothing much.”

She smirked. “Really?”

“Yeah… Nothing worth repeating.”

“In that case, I have some two TV dinners in the fridge and Netflix if you’re interested.” She wrapped his arms around his neck and pulled him in for a small, yet soft, kiss.

“How can I say no to that?” He kissed her again.

“I’d be surprised if you did.” She pulled away to get the food out of the fridge and into the microwave. As she set everything up, he dropped his bag at the foot of her bed and climbed on top. His speech he gave to his father replayed in his mind as he watched her. He loved her so much and didn’t know where he’d be if not for her and Rhodey. He couldn’t have asked for better friends.

_“Funny,” his father said right after his speech. “She said the same thing to me.”_

_“What?” Tony was confused._

_“She’s a good catch, probably the strongest woman I’ve ever seen, right next to your mother.”_

_Tony was done with him; he didn’t want to have to listen to another empty speech meant for intimidation or guilt trip. “I don’t care what else you have to say.”_

_“I know you don’t, so I’ve come here for a little proposal.”_

_“For the last time, I’m not leaving to work for Stark Industries.”_

_“I know. I was wondering if you’d actually consult a few projects.”_

_“Why?”_

_“Because, believe it or not, the company needs you.” He paused. “I need you.”_

Pepper climbed up on the bed and sat down next to him. She handed him his TV dinner and began to flip through the collection of movies on the screen. As she did, she felt his hand lovingly stroke her back.

He smiled affectionately. “Thank you, Pepper.”

She turned her head to face him. “For what?”

“For everything.”

“Huh?”

He grinned this time. “I love you.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant before. “Uh, I love you, too?”

“What, you don’t love me?” he teased.

“Not when you’re being weird.”

“That’s mean.” He frowned. “I thought you loved me unconditionally.”

She chuckled. “When did I say that?”

“It was implied.”

“It was not.”

“So you don’t love me?”

“Shut up, or—“

“Or what?”

“I’ll shut you up myself.”

“You’re so cute when you’re irritated.” He smiled widely.

She nudged him in the ribs and he laughed. They shared a long and affectionate kiss before they switched to eating. He vowed to thank her and Rhodey in the years to come; they saved him and gave him something he thought he would never gain, love and affection. It was only the beginning of his life, but he was happy to be able to call them his family, because they were _his_ family. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

\--

[EPILOGUE]

“See, it wasn’t so hard, wasn’t it?” Tony asked as he and Pepper sat down in the cafeteria.

Pepper smiled widely. “No, it wasn’t. Probably because I got help.” She stared at him.

He put his hands up. “I didn’t help you prepare for the final. That was all you.”

“No, all of this, was _you_.” She pressed her finger against his chest. He looked down at it briefly and smiled at her.

“No. Give yourself some credit—give yourself 12% of the credit.”

Her smile disappeared. “Twelve percent?”

“What’s wrong with twelve percent?”

“You didn’t use your brain to do my quizzes and tests.”

“No, but I did use it to help you prepare for the quizzes and tests.” He smiled warmly at her.

She rolled her eyes and tried not to smile. “Whatever.”

“Have you registered for classes yet?” Tony asked as he took a Tupperware out of his book bag.

Pepper bit her bottom lip and briefly glanced at him. “Um… About that…”

He stared at her. “What?”

“I… I think we need to talk.”

He frowned and pushed his lunch to the side. “Okay…” He began to worry.

“I’m…” Pepper sighed and paused. “—Okay, please don’t get angry, or upset.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Why would I get angry or upset?”

“Please promise me you won’t.”

“Okay, okay. I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, I promise.” He tried to reassure her.

She stared at him and then at her lunch. “I’m… thinking about switching majors.”

Tony stared at her and then she looked back up at him; she expected some sort of reaction right away, but he looked at her with a flat expression, as if he was trying to process her words.

“You what!?” He practically shouted.

“Tony!” She chided him.

“How—How could you? I thought—I thought you liked it? What happened to loving math!?” He honestly looked upset and distraught. “Pepper—Wh—“ He paused and frowned. “...This really hurts.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You’re always so dramatic.”

“What other major are you thinking about?”

She forked some pasta off her plate and played with it. “I’m not so much thinking about it… because I’ve already switched.”

He widened his eyes and tried to think of coherent words. “You—You already—Okay. What major?”

“Business.” She cautiously looked at him.

“Oh, wow. Okay. Business. That’s a terrible major.”

“Tony, I’ve actually wanted to go into business. Maybe even accounting.”

He shivered. “Just the word sounds boring.”

“I’ve thought a lot about it and I’ve discussed it with my mom, so the damage has already been done.”

“I thought you liked Physics…”

“I do… just not as much as you do.” She tried to flash him a smile, hoping she didn’t offend him.

“I’m never going to see you in my class again…” He frowned. “…All those times we’ve ‘studied’… and by ‘studied’, I mean have sex…” He sighed to himself. “I’m going to miss it.”

She chuckled and shook her head. “I might be in your class again if you ever decide to teach calculus.”

His ears perked up. “Really?”

“Yeah. Accounting. Calculus. Goes hand in hand, and it’s required.”

“I can help you with your calculus homework.” He smiled and pumped his eyebrows at her, suggesting a lot more than some old fashioned ‘studying’.

“I’m sure you can.” She smiled seductively at him.

“Let’s be honest. If you can crunch calculus problems while we’re having sex—“

“Is that what you do when we’re having sex?” She interjected him.

He stared at her. “Sometimes…”

“Oh my god, Tony.”

“What? When my head is between your legs, sometimes I have to calculate the trajectory of my tongue when I thrust—“

“Okay.” Pepper stopped him. “I got the picture.”

He grinned as he reminisced over the first time he did it to her. He could distinctly remember the sharp hitch of her breath and her loud, long moan. “Yeah, you did.”

“Tony, stop.”

“What?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Want to remind me?” He teased her. She tried to ignore him while she finished her lunch. “We can pencil in a ‘study session’ after we eat.”

“You’re incorrigible.” She shook her head at him.

“I love you, too, Honey.”

“Again with the pet names…”

“You love it and you know it.” He smiled widely.

Pepper decided to change the subject, despite how well their current conversation was going. “So, how’s the consulting job with your dad?”

“Manageable.” He spoke briefly.

“Don’t want to talk about it?”

“Not really.” He hummed. “But he did ask about you.”

“Me?” She asked.

“Yup. Which is surprising, because I didn’t think he’d even care to ask, since, you know, he doesn’t really care about anyone.” Tony shrugged. “I guess you had a lasting impression on him… or maybe he was just looking for small talk.”

She grinned as her small speech to Howard zipped through her mind. “I’m sure he was just trying to reconnect with his son.”

Tony made a disgusted expression. “Ew.”

“As much as you don’t think it’s possible, Tony, it is.”

“Double ew.”

“So mature.” Pepper gazed at him. “Such is the reason I love you.”

“Funny, Potts.”

She laughed and stole some of his lunch. He tried to retaliate by stealing some of hers, but she fended off his fork with hers. He pouted and gave her this heart breaking look, hoping she’d cave, but she never did. She’s learned to resist his puppy dog eyes, but every now and then, they’d catch her by surprise.

What Howard implied was true; they were only together for a few months so far, and it didn’t predict what could happen in the next few months or the next year, but she was certain they wouldn’t leave each other on bad terms. And if anything did happen, they’d understand. But, the future was the future and the past was the past. They could forget about the past and leave the future unknown. What mattered at the moment was the present, and that’s all she wanted to enjoy.

“So, Rhodey was texting me last night.”

Dread filled Tony’s mind as her words processed in his head. “Oh no…” he muttered.

“I’m not sure what was more surprising, that you didn’t get expelled from school or that they let you keep the kickball.”

“Okay, that’s it! Give me your phone. I’m erasing his number.” Tony reached for her, but she leaned away.

“Haha, no way. I thought this was progress. I’m learning about your childhood.” She teased and laughed.

“Learning about my childhood is one thing, asking Rhodey for embarrassing stories about me is another.”

She took out her phone and showed him a butt naked picture of himself that Rhodey sent to her. It was one of his baby photos. He always asked his mother why it was hung up in the hallway of the house where guests were able to see it.

“But look how cute you were—“

He snatched the phone. “You two are terrible.” Pepper laughed as his cheeks turned a familiar shade of red.


End file.
